Cloud Mac Rental Prices Compared (2026): 13 Options Side by Side
·8 min read
There are now a dozen ways to get a Mac in the cloud, and they are not the same product. Some rent you a whole Mac mini, some a shared server or a virtual machine, some only CI minutes. This page puts them in one table with the entry price, the shortest rental and whether you can actually order today.
Disclosure: MacRent is one of the providers in this table. Prices were checked on October 20, 2026 on each provider's own pricing page, in the currency they publish.
The short answer
- A few hours of builds: GitHub Actions minutes or an hourly macOS VM. Cheapest, as long as a throwaway or shared machine is fine.
- A whole Mac for a day or a few weeks: MacRent at $15 a day or $89 a week, ready in minutes. AWS EC2 Mac costs about twice as much per day, with a 24-hour minimum and setup on you.
- A whole Mac for a month or more: a monthly host. Check stock before you plan around one: several had waitlists or sold-out plans on the check date.
- A team or a build fleet: MacStadium or AWS EC2 Mac, which are built for that.
Prices side by side
| Provider | What you rent | Entry price | Shortest rental | Setup | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MacRent | Dedicated Mac mini M4 or M6, 16GB, 256GB, full admin | $15/day, $89/week, $159/month | 1 day | Minutes | US (West Coast) and EU (France, Netherlands). |
| MacStadium | Dedicated Mac mini or Mac Studio, M2 to M4 Pro | M2 8GB $109/month, M4 16GB $149/month | 1 month (annual available) | Not stated | No free trial. Aimed at teams and fleets. |
| MacinCloud | Shared managed server (no admin), or a dedicated Mac | From $25/month shared; hourly pay-as-you-go | Hourly on pay-as-you-go | Instant on shared plans | The $25 tier is a shared, locked-down server. Dedicated plans cost more. |
| AWS EC2 Mac | Dedicated host, M1 to M4 Max, you build the instance | mac-m4 about $1.20/hour (about $29/day) plus storage | 24 hours per host | Host allocation, AMI and networking | Billed while the instance is stopped. Capacity varies by region. |
| HostMyApple | Dedicated Mac mini, M1 to M6 | M1 8GB $69.99, M4 16GB $119.99, M6 16GB $139.99 per month | 1 month | Advertised as instant | Atlanta, Denver, Amsterdam. Mac VPS plans from $24.99 run older macOS. |
| RentAMac | Dedicated Mac mini M4 or M6, 16GB | M4 $119/month, M6 $139/month | 1 month | When a unit is free | All instances allocated on the check date, with a waitlist. |
| Mac Mini Vault | Dedicated Mac mini, M1 to M5 Pro | M6 16GB $149.99/month; M4 16GB $134.99 (out of stock) | 1 month, no contract | Within 24 hours on business days | Milwaukee and Phoenix. Most M1, M2 and M4 plans out of stock. |
| OakHost | Dedicated Mac mini, M1 to M6 | M1 16GB €80, M6 16GB €120 per month, excl. VAT | 1 month (one-week trial offered) | Minutes | Germany. Most M2 and M4 plans out of stock. |
| MacRun | Dedicated Mac mini M6 | $139/month (CI plan), $169/month (agent plan) | 1 month | Not stated | New Jersey only. |
| Macly | Dedicated Mac mini M4, 16GB, 256GB | From $14.99/day | 1 day listed | Under 10 minutes advertised | Not accepting individual orders on the check date (waitlist, bulk orders only). |
| NoMac | macOS virtual machine on a shared host | $0.80/hour | $10 prepaid | Not stated | A VM, not a whole Mac. |
| GitHub Actions | Fresh macOS VM per CI job (3-core M1) | $0.062/minute | Per minute | Per job | CI only. macOS minutes count 10x against free quotas. |
| Xcode Cloud | Apple's hosted CI for Apple platform apps | 25 hours/month free with the Developer Program; $49.99/month for 100 hours | Monthly | Per build | Builds and tests only, no remote desktop. |
Four kinds of cloud Mac
1. A whole Mac by the month
HostMyApple, RentAMac, OakHost, Mac Mini Vault, MacRun and MacStadium rent a physical Mac mini on a monthly subscription. You get the whole machine, usually with admin rights and a static IP. M1 plans start around $70 to $85, and M4 or M6 machines with 16GB run $119 to $150. The catch in late 2026 is stock. On the check date, RentAMac had every instance allocated, and most M2 and M4 plans at OakHost and Mac Mini Vault showed out of stock. Mac Mini Vault also provisions within 24 hours on business days rather than instantly.
2. A whole Mac by the day or week
This is the gap most hosts leave open, and the one MacRent is built for: a dedicated Mac mini M4 or M6 for $15 a day or $89 a week, ready in minutes, cancel anytime. It suits the work that does not last a month: shipping one build, submitting to the App Store, debugging a Safari issue, or trying an AI agent on a real Mac. AWS EC2 Mac is the other on-demand option for a whole machine, at about $1.20 an hour for an M4 with a 24-hour minimum per host, plus storage, and you assemble the instance yourself. Macly lists $14.99 a day but was only taking bulk orders when we checked.
3. A shared server or a virtual machine
MacinCloud's entry plans from $25 a month are shared managed servers without admin rights, with hourly pay-as-you-go options. NoMac sells macOS virtual machines at $0.80 an hour. HostMyApple's Mac VPS plans start at $24.99 a month. These are the cheapest way to open Xcode for a few hours. They stop working well when you need to install system-level tools, keep something running 24/7, or need the current macOS for the latest Xcode. Our cloud Mac vs Mac VPS guide goes into the difference.
4. CI minutes only
GitHub Actions bills macOS runners at $0.062 a minute for a 3-core M1, on a fresh VM for every job. Xcode Cloud includes 25 hours a month with the Apple Developer Program and sells 100 hours for $49.99. Neither gives you a desktop. Past roughly 40 hours of macOS builds a month, a dedicated Mac running a self-hosted runner costs less; the GitHub runner cost comparison has the break-even numbers.
Which one fits
- Windows or Linux user who needs Xcode for a few days: a whole Mac by the day. See Xcode on Windows.
- Long-running Mac for months, price first: a monthly host, accepting a waitlist or an older chip.
- Always-on AI agent such as OpenClaw or Claude Code: a whole Mac with admin rights, by the week to test, by the month once it works. See OpenClaw on a cloud Mac.
- Occasional CI builds: hosted minutes. Daily CI: a dedicated runner.
- Company fleet with procurement: MacStadium or AWS.
Where MacRent fits, and where it does not
We built MacRent for short, real work on a whole Mac: a dedicated Mac mini M4 or M6 with 16GB, full admin, a static IP, SSH, VNC and RustDesk, in the US (West Coast) and the EU (France, Netherlands), ready in minutes for $15 a day, $89 a week or $159 a month. If you need a bigger machine than 16GB and 256GB, MacStadium and Mac Mini Vault sell larger configurations; we do not.
Sources
Public pricing pages, checked October 20, 2026:
- MacStadium: www.macstadium.com/pricing
- MacinCloud: www.macincloud.com
- AWS EC2 Mac: aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/mac/
- HostMyApple: hostmyapple.com/dedicated-mac-hosting
- RentAMac: rentamac.io/pricing
- Mac Mini Vault: www.macminivault.com/dedicated-mac-mini/
- OakHost: www.oakhost.com/mac-mini-hosting
- MacRun: macrun.dev
- Macly: macly.io/pricing
- NoMac: nomac.app
- GitHub Actions: docs.github.com/en/billing/reference/actions-runner-pricing
- Xcode Cloud: developer.apple.com/xcode-cloud/
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest way to rent a Mac in the cloud?
For a few hours of builds, per-minute CI (GitHub Actions at $0.062 a minute) or an hourly macOS VM is cheapest. For a whole dedicated Mac for a month, older M1 plans start around $70 to $85 at HostMyApple, OakHost and Mac Mini Vault. For a whole M4 or M6 Mac for a day or a week, MacRent charges $15 a day or $89 a week, ready in minutes.
Can I rent a Mac for just one day?
Yes, but few providers sell a real one-day rental of a whole Mac. MacRent sells 24 hours for $15. AWS EC2 Mac bills a 24-hour minimum per host, about $29 a day for an M4. Macly lists $14.99 a day but was not accepting individual orders when we checked. Most other hosts bill by the month.
Is a shared or VM cloud Mac good enough?
For running a build or testing an app in the iOS Simulator, often yes. The limits show up when you need admin rights, want to install system tools, run something 24/7, or need consistent performance. A shared managed server usually has no admin access, and a VM is a slice of a bigger host.
Which cloud Mac is best for iOS CI?
Under roughly 40 hours of macOS build time a month, hosted runners such as GitHub Actions are cheaper and need no maintenance. Above that, a dedicated Mac used as a self-hosted runner costs less and keeps Xcode, DerivedData and simulators warm between jobs. Xcode Cloud's 25 free hours a month are worth using first if you only build Apple platform apps.
How often are these prices updated?
We re-check every provider's public pricing page once a month and update the table and the date at the top of the article. Prices are list prices for the entry configuration; taxes, storage add-ons and promotions are not included.
Need a Mac without buying one?
Rent a dedicated Mac Mini M4 in the cloud from $15/day. Full-admin access, ready in minutes, cancel anytime.
Rent a Mac