SoloRack vs HostMyApple: an M6 Mac mini for $112 a month

HostMyApple and SoloRack both rent dedicated Mac minis that you reach over remote desktop and SSH, and both offer the current Mac mini M6 with 16 GB of memory and a 256 GB SSD. So the hardware is close. What differs is the price, how short a rental can be, and what is written down about renewals and your data.

The short version

A lower monthly price for the same spec. Our Mac mini M6 (16 GB, 256 GB) costs $112 a month. HostMyApple lists its dedicated M6 16 GB plan at $139.99 a month.
You can rent by the day or by the week. A 24-hour pass costs $19 and a 7-day pass costs $49. HostMyApple bills its dedicated Macs monthly.
Our renewal and data rules are written down. We send reminders 3 days and 1 day before a renewal. If a payment fails, you get 24 hours to fix it, and your Mac isn’t touched. When a rental ends, your files are deleted and we keep no copy.
An EU datacenter and human support in six languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Turkish and Arabic.

Side by side

SoloRack compared with HostMyApple’s Dedicated Mac mini plans. The HostMyApple details come from its own pages, listed under Sources. Our prices include VAT where it applies.

	SoloRack	HostMyApple (Dedicated)
Price for a day	$19 (24-hour pass)	No daily plan
Price for a week	$49 (7-day pass)	No weekly plan
Price for a month	$112 (M6, 16 GB)	$139.99 (M6, 16 GB); $119.99 (M4, 16 GB)
Machine	Mac mini M6, 12-core CPU, 16 GB, 256 GB SSD	Mac mini M6, 16 GB, 256 GB SSD; also M1, M4, M6 32 GB and Intel plans
Dedicated or shared	Dedicated, one customer at a time	Dedicated on these plans; a separate range of virtual Mac VPS plans
Access	Remote desktop from Windows, macOS or Linux, plus SSH	NoMachine, Apple Remote Desktop or VNC, plus SSH
Admin rights	Full admin rights	Full root/administrator access
Where it runs	An EU datacenter	Atlanta, Denver or Amsterdam
Minimum rental	24 hours	No minimum term; billed monthly on the 1st, with a prorated first bill
Renewal reminders and grace period	Reminders 3 days and 1 day before a renewal; 2 hours and again 30 minutes before a pass ends; 24 hours to fix a failed payment, with access open	Invoice emailed about 2 weeks before billing; its terms describe no grace period
Data at the end	Deleted within minutes of the end, no backup or copy kept; you’re warned first, and the whole Mac is erased before the next customer	Its terms make backups the customer’s responsibility; no retention period stated
Support languages	English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Turkish, Arabic	Not stated (the site is in English)

Price and rental length

On monthly plans with the same spec, we cost $27.99 a month less. Over a year that comes to $335.88 ($1,344 against $1,679.88). HostMyApple’s FAQ says an account can switch to annual billing after 90 days, but it doesn’t publish the annual price, so these yearly figures compare monthly billing only. HostMyApple’s M4 16 GB plan costs $119.99 a month, which is also more than our $112.

Our prices are in US dollars and include VAT where it applies. You pay on a checkout page hosted by Stripe, with 3D Secure. Businesses can add their VAT number at checkout. You can cancel a monthly plan at any time in the Stripe customer portal. HostMyApple also lets you cancel at any time from its own portal, either straight away or at the end of the period you’ve paid for.

The bigger difference is for short jobs. HostMyApple bills every service on the 1st of the month. When you sign up, you pay a prorated amount up to the next 1st. If you sign up within 5 days of the next 1st, the following month is billed as well. That suits someone who wants a Mac for months. If you need a Mac for one release weekend or a single App Store upload, a 24-hour pass at $19 or a 7-day pass at $49 covers only that time.

Renewals, payments and your data

We’ve put the most work into this part. Losing a working Mac because of a missed payment is the worst way for a rental to end.

On monthly plans, we email you 3 days and 1 day before each renewal. On a pass, you get a reminder 2 hours before it ends and again 30 minutes before. If a payment fails, you get an email with a link to update your card, and 24 hours to fix it, with your Mac exactly as you left it and still reachable. If it isn’t fixed by then, the rental ends and we cancel the subscription, so you aren’t charged again. Our reminders tell you that everything on the Mac is deleted when the rental ends, so you can download your files and export your signing certificates first. Within minutes of the end, your macOS account and all your files are deleted. We keep no backup or copy, so we cannot get them back, and the whole Mac is erased before the next customer. We never wipe a Mac without warning.

HostMyApple’s FAQ says it emails an invoice about two weeks before each billing date, which gives you plenty of notice. Its terms of service charge interest of 1.5% a month on late payments (section 9.3). They don’t describe a grace period, and they don’t say how long data is kept after a service ends. They say backups are the customer’s sole responsibility (section 6.4), and the FAQ suggests using an outside backup service. Keeping your own backups is good practice with any host. With us it matters even more, because yours is the only copy: when a rental ends, none of your files stay behind, on the Mac or with us.

Support, languages and location

Our support is by email, and people answer it, in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Turkish or Arabic. If English isn’t your first language, you can describe a code-signing error or an SSH problem in the language you think in.

HostMyApple handles support through a ticket system, and its plan listings say “24 Hour Support”. Its site is in English and doesn’t name any other support languages.

HostMyApple’s Macs are in Atlanta, Denver and Amsterdam. Amsterdam is in the EU, so EU customers can keep their data in the EU there too, as long as they choose that location. With us, every Mac runs in an EU datacenter, so there’s nothing to choose.

Getting started from Windows

Many people who rent a Mac don’t own one. They build with Flutter or React Native, or with Cursor or Claude Code, on a Windows PC, and they need macOS to build, sign and upload their app to App Store Connect.

With us, your Mac is ready a few minutes after payment. You connect from Windows with a remote desktop app, or over SSH. You have full admin rights, so you install Xcode yourself and sign in with your own Apple Account. That keeps your developer account in your hands.

HostMyApple’s homepage explains how to connect from Windows with NoMachine, RealVNC or TeamViewer. Its FAQ says login details for dedicated servers usually arrive the same day. Both routes work from a PC. For a one-off upload, the real difference is billing: one $19 day with us, or a monthly billing cycle there.

Who HostMyApple suits

HostMyApple has been running for many years and offers a wider range than we do. It has older, cheaper Mac minis (an M1 from $69.99 a month, and an Intel model), an M6 with 32 GB of memory at $179.99 a month, and virtual Mac VPS plans from $24.99 a month. It runs Macs in two US locations as well as Amsterdam. It supports NoMachine, Apple Remote Desktop and VNC. You can ask for a refund within 14 days of purchase, except for crypto payments. If you want a Mac in the US, more than 16 GB of memory, or a long-term monthly server you might later move to annual billing, it’s a sensible choice.

Switching to SoloRack

Pick a plan. Choose a 24-hour pass ($19), a 7-day pass ($49) or the monthly plan ($112, cancel at any time), then pay on Stripe’s checkout page.
Get your Mac in minutes. A few minutes after payment, your dedicated Mac mini M6 is ready, with its connection details in My account.
Connect. Use the remote desktop app on Windows, macOS or Linux, or connect over SSH. Then install Xcode with your own Apple Account and copy your projects across. If you’re moving from another host, copy your projects and signing certificates off the old Mac before you cancel there.