Cost comparison

The maths on macOS CI runners.

Let's do the numbers on a team running 4 hours of macOS builds per day:

GitHub Actions (macOS)

  • £0.08/min × 240 min/day = £19.20/day
  • ~£576/month
  • Shared hardware, variable performance
  • No persistent state between runs
  • Limited to GitHub's macOS versions

Halfpenny Mac (Pro tier)

  • £89/month flat (or £69/mo annual)
  • Unlimited build minutes
  • Dedicated M4, consistent performance
  • Persistent state — caches, tools, configs stay
  • Install any macOS version or Xcode release

Even at 2 hours of builds per day, GitHub Actions costs ~£288/month — more than double a Pro tier Halfpenny Mac with unlimited usage.

Setting up CI

Works with every CI system.

Your Halfpenny Mac is a full macOS machine with root access. Set it up as a CI runner for any platform:

  • GitHub Actions — install the self-hosted runner agent, point your runs-on to your Mac
  • GitLab CI — register as a GitLab runner with the macOS executor
  • Jenkins — install the Jenkins agent, connect via SSH
  • Buildkite — lightweight agent, great for Mac builds
  • CircleCI — self-hosted runner support for macOS
  • Xcode Cloud alternative — more flexibility, no vendor lock-in

Your caches persist between builds. Your provisioning profiles and certificates stay installed. No cold starts, no re-downloading dependencies every run.

Ready to get started?

Sign up and we'll have your Mac mini provisioned and online within 24 hours. No contracts, cancel anytime.

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