SoloRack vs Scaleway: a Mac mini M6 for $112 a month

Scaleway, the European cloud provider, and SoloRack both rent you a whole Mac mini in a datacenter, with nobody else on it. You reach it over a remote desktop and SSH from the computer you already have. The differences are in the chip, the price, how a rental ends, and the languages you get help in.

The short version

A newer chip. We rent the Mac mini M6 with a 12-core CPU: $19 for 24 hours, VAT included where it applies. Scaleway’s closest match, the M4-S (a Mac mini M4 with a 10-core CPU), costs €5.28 before tax for its minimum 24 hours.
Flat prices for a week and a month. $49 for 7 days and $112 a month with us. On Scaleway, a week on the M4-S at the hourly rate is €36.96 and a month is €149, both before tax.
Reminders and no copies. We email you before every renewal, then delete your files when the rental ends and keep no copy. On Scaleway, deleting a Mac mini is also irreversible and its data is lost.
Help in six languages. People answer our emails in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Turkish and Arabic. Scaleway’s support works in English and French.

Side by side

SoloRack and Scaleway compared. Scaleway figures are for its Mac mini M4-S, its closest match to our machine, and come from its own pages, listed under Sources. Scaleway’s prices are in euros, before tax.

	SoloRack	Scaleway
Price for a day	$19 (24-hour pass), VAT included where it applies	€5.28 before tax (24 hours at €0.22)
Price for a week	$49 (7-day pass), VAT included where it applies	€36.96 before tax (168 hours at €0.22)
Price for a month	$112, VAT included where it applies, cancel anytime	€149 before tax
Machine	Mac mini M6: 12-core CPU, 16 GB memory, 256 GB SSD	Mac mini M4: 10-core CPU, 16 GB memory, 256 GB SSD
Dedicated or shared	Dedicated: one customer per Mac	Dedicated: a whole Mac mini, no hypervisor
Access	Remote desktop from Windows, macOS or Linux, plus SSH	VNC remote desktop, plus SSH
Admin rights	Administrator account with sudo	Full control over the resources and applications installed
Where it runs	An EU datacenter	Paris, France
Minimum rental	24 hours	24 hours; a monthly commitment runs at least one month
Renewal reminders and grace period	Emails 3 days and 1 day before each renewal; passes get reminders 2 hours and again 30 minutes before the end. 24 hours to fix a failed payment, with access open and the Mac untouched	Billed after use, while the Mac is assigned to your account, until you delete it; monthly commitments renew automatically. An unpaid invoice: 10 days to pay, then the account is suspended, and its resources are deleted 10 days later
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	Deletion is irreversible and any data on the Mac is lost
Support languages	English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Turkish and Arabic	English and French

Price: a newer chip, a lower monthly price

The fair comparison is an entry Mac mini with 16 GB of memory and a 256 GB SSD. With us that’s the M6. On Scaleway it’s the M4-S: its pricing page lists Mac minis with M1, M2, M2 Pro, M4 and M4 Pro chips, and no M6.

One day: $19 with us, VAT included where it applies. Scaleway charges €0.22 an hour for the M4-S, with a 24-hour minimum set by Apple’s licence, so a day is €5.28 before tax. For a single day on the older M4, Scaleway costs less.
One week: $49 with us, a flat price with VAT included where it applies, against €36.96 before tax on Scaleway. Before tax, Scaleway’s week costs less too.
One month: $112 with us, about $3.73 a day. Scaleway lists the M4-S at €149 a month before tax.

Scaleway also rents older chips for less: an M2 with 16 GB at €0.17 an hour or €115 a month, and an M1 with 8 GB at €0.11 an hour or €75 a month, before tax.

Our prices are in US dollars and include VAT where it applies. Businesses can add their VAT number at checkout. Scaleway’s prices are in euros, with tax added on top, so check the currency and the tax line before you compare totals.

Renewals and your data

Scaleway works like the rest of its cloud. You pay while the Mac mini is assigned to your account and stop by deleting it in the console or from the command line, any time after the first 24 hours. A monthly commitment runs one month from the order, then renews automatically on the same date each month; deleting a committed Mac takes effect on that date. Its docs say deletion is irreversible and any data stored on the Mac is lost, so copy what you need first. Billing comes after use: each monthly invoice covers the month before, and you have ten days to pay it. If you don’t, the account is suspended and its resources become unreachable; ten days later they are deleted.

With SoloRack, the rules are written down and the numbers are fixed:

On the monthly plan, we email you 3 days and 1 day before each renewal, with the link to pay or manage your plan.
On a pass, we remind you 2 hours and again 30 minutes before it ends.
If a payment fails, you get an email with a link to update your card, and 24 hours to fix it, with your Mac untouched and still reachable.
You cancel the monthly plan in the Stripe customer portal, and it stops at the end of the month you’ve paid for.
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.

Support and languages

Scaleway’s support team helps in English and French. Every customer gets the free Basic plan, with tickets around the clock and an initial response time of 8 hours. Phone support starts with the Advanced plan, at €50 a month or 5% of your monthly spend, whichever is higher.

With SoloRack there are no support plans. You email us about access, the Mac or any step of our App Store guide, and a person answers in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Turkish or Arabic.

Getting started from Windows

Both services work from a Windows PC. On Scaleway, you order the Mac mini in its console, and its product page says it’s ready in under 5 minutes. You connect with a VNC client or over SSH, and Xcode comes preinstalled.

With SoloRack there’s no sign-up: your account opens when you pay on a checkout page hosted by Stripe. Your access details are ready in My account a few minutes after payment, and a pass’s 24 hours start from that moment, not when you pay. You connect with a remote desktop app on Windows, macOS or Linux, or over SSH from the terminal those systems already include. You install Xcode from the App Store with your own Apple Account, so the licence is yours.

The 24-hour pass is built for people who code on Windows with Flutter, React Native, Expo or Capacitor and only need a Mac to publish. It comes with our step-by-step guide to signing, archiving and uploading to the App Store.

Who Scaleway suits

Scaleway is a sensible choice if you want a Mac mini running within minutes, billed by the hour after the first day and managed from a console or the command line. It suits teams already on Scaleway who want Macs on private networks, or who need more than the entry model, up to an M4 Pro with 64 GB and 2 TB. It also suits you if you want Xcode preinstalled, phone support on a paid plan, or a Mac in Paris.

Switching to SoloRack

Pick a plan. Choose the 24-hour pass ($19), the 7-day pass ($49) or the monthly plan ($112) on our pricing page. Only need to publish? Start with the 24-hour pass and its App Store guide.
Get your Mac in minutes. A few minutes after payment, your access details are ready in My account.
Connect. Open the remote desktop from Windows, macOS or Linux, or a terminal over SSH, then sign in to the App Store with your Apple Account to install Xcode. Moving from a Scaleway Mac? Push your code to Git and export your signing certificates before you delete it.