SoloRackSoloRack vs MacWeb: a dedicated M6 by the day or month
SoloRack and MacWeb both rent dedicated Mac minis. Compare M6 pricing, day and week passes, renewals, what happens to your data, and support.
MacWeb rents bare-metal Mac minis and Mac Studios from data centers in Santa Clara, California, and Secaucus, New Jersey. Its site puts a lot of weight on teams that need many Macs at once. SoloRack rents a single dedicated Mac mini M6 from an EU datacenter, by the day, the week or the month. Here is how the two compare, based on what each company publishes.
The short version
- A lower price on the M6. A Mac mini M6 with 16 GB and 256 GB costs $112 a month with us. MacWeb lists its Base M6 at $149 a month, marked “Coming Soon”. Its Base M4 with 16 GB and 256 GB, which you can order now, is $129 a month.
- Rent for a day or a week. A 24-hour pass is $19 and a 7-day pass is $49. MacWeb sells monthly subscriptions, with quarterly and yearly renewal options.
- No copies after the rental ends. You’re warned first, then your files are deleted and we keep no backup. MacWeb’s FAQ also says the instance is removed at the end of the billing period.
- Reminders before renewal, 24 hours to fix a failed payment, an EU datacenter and support in six languages.
Side by side
SoloRack and MacWeb compared. Our prices include VAT where it applies; MacWeb’s prices are as listed on its site. “Not described” means we found nothing on it on MacWeb’s Mac mini page or FAQ.
| SoloRack | MacWeb | |
|---|---|---|
| Price for a day | $19 (24-hour pass) | No daily plan; the shortest term is a monthly subscription |
| Price for a week | $49 (7-day pass) | No weekly plan |
| Price for a month | $112, cancel anytime | $149 for the Base M6 (“Coming Soon”); $129 for the Base M4 |
| Machine | Mac mini M6: Apple M6, 12-core CPU, 16 GB, 256 GB SSD | Base M6: 12-core M6, 16 GB, 256 GB SSD; Base M4: 10-core M4, 16 GB, 256 GB SSD (plus more M-series tiers and Mac Studio) |
| Dedicated or shared | Dedicated, one customer at a time | Dedicated bare metal, not a virtual machine |
| Access | Remote desktop from Windows, macOS or Linux, plus SSH | VNC and SSH |
| Admin rights | Full admin rights | Full admin control and root access |
| Where it runs | An EU datacenter | Santa Clara, California, and Secaucus, New Jersey (US) |
| Minimum rental | 24 hours | One month, no contract; renewal monthly, quarterly or yearly |
| Renewal reminders and grace period | Reminders 3 days and 1 day before renewal (passes: 2 hours and again 30 minutes before the end); 24 hours to fix a failed payment, with access open and the Mac untouched | Not described; the card is charged each month on the day you first ordered |
| 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 | Instance removed at the end of the billing period; the cancellation steps ask you to erase the Mac first |
| Support languages | English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Turkish and Arabic | Not stated; the site is in English |
Price and rental length
Our machine is an Apple M6 with a 12-core CPU, 16 GB of memory and a 256 GB SSD, for $112 a month. MacWeb’s matching configuration is its Base M6 at $149 a month. On the day we checked, it was listed as “Coming Soon” rather than open for orders. The plan you can order there today with the same memory and storage is the Base M4 at $129 a month. Its 10-core M4 is an older chip than the M6. In both cases the monthly price with us is lower.
Rental length is the other big difference. A lot of Mac work is a one-off: signing a build, uploading to App Store Connect, testing a fix in the iOS Simulator before a release. A $19 pass covers 24 hours. A $49 pass covers a week, which is useful while you go back and forth with App Review. MacWeb’s Mac minis are monthly subscriptions. Its order form lets you renew monthly, quarterly or yearly, and its FAQ says payments are not refunded for unused time in a month.
Renewals and your data
The worst moment to find out a rental has lapsed is the day before a release. We put our rules in writing so there are no surprises:
- Monthly plans get reminders 3 days and 1 day before renewal. Passes get a reminder 2 hours before they end and another 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 the Mac untouched and still reachable.
- When a rental ends, your account and files are deleted within minutes. We keep no backup or copy, and the whole Mac is erased before the next customer.
- We never wipe a Mac without warning: our reminders tell you to download your files and export your signing certificates first.
- Monthly plans can be cancelled anytime in the Stripe customer portal.
MacWeb’s FAQ says the card is charged each month on the day you first ordered, and you can cancel any subscription from your dashboard at any time. The running period is paid in advance and is not refunded. The instance is removed at the end of the billing period. MacWeb’s cancellation steps ask you to sign out of iCloud and Find My, then use “Erase all content and settings” before you cancel. For backups, its FAQ suggests iCloud+, or an SSD on its network for Time Machine if you ask support. We did not find renewal reminders or a grace period on its Mac mini page or FAQ.
Support and languages
MacWeb takes support requests through its contact page, by form, email or phone, and also offers consulting and volume deployments. Its site does not list support hours or languages, and it is written in English.
Our support is by email, from people, in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Turkish and Arabic. If English is not your first language, describing a provisioning profile problem in your own words can get you to the answer faster. If you work from Europe, an EU datacenter is also much closer to you than California or New Jersey. Shorter distance usually means lower latency, so remote desktop feels more responsive.
Getting started from Windows
If you build with Flutter, React Native or .NET MAUI on Windows, you still need macOS for the iOS build and the upload. MacWeb offers VNC for the full desktop and SSH for the command line. Its FAQ notes that VNC apps exist for Mac, Windows and Linux, and that you can connect in one click from its customer dashboard.
With us, you get remote desktop from Windows, macOS or Linux, plus SSH, and full admin rights. You install Xcode yourself with your own Apple Account, so your signing certificates and team settings stay under your control. You pay on Stripe’s hosted checkout with 3D Secure. Businesses can add their VAT number at checkout.
Who MacWeb suits
MacWeb is aimed at teams that need scale. It offers clusters of 4 or 10 Mac minis, Mac Studio machines, faster network ports on higher tiers, consulting, and quotes for 50 or 500 Macs. It advertises instant activation on models in stock, and it has US data centers on both the West and East Coasts. For a US company planning a large build farm or a Mac cluster, that is a sensible fit.
Switching to SoloRack
- Pick a plan. Choose the $19 24-hour pass, the $49 7-day pass or the $112 monthly plan, and pay on Stripe’s hosted checkout.
- Get your Mac in minutes. Your Mac mini M6 is ready a few minutes after payment, with its access details in My account.
- Connect. Open a remote desktop session from Windows, macOS or Linux, or connect over SSH. Then sign in with your Apple Account and install Xcode. If you are moving from MacWeb, copy your projects across with git or over SSH before your billing period there ends.