MacStadium vs Halfpenny Mac
Same concept, different approach.
MacStadium
- US-based (Atlanta, Las Vegas, Frankfurt)
- Starts at ~$99/mo for Mac mini
- Enterprise-focused with Orka virtualisation
- Support via ticket system
- Annual contracts on most plans
- Established since 2012
Halfpenny Mac
- UK-based (Cotswolds)
- Starts at £39/mo (~$49)
- Developer-focused, no virtualisation overhead
- Direct support from the engineers who manage your machine
- Cancel anytime, no notice period
- Built for indie devs and small teams
MacStadium's Orka platform is powerful if you need Kubernetes-style orchestration for macOS VMs. But if you just want a Mac you can SSH into and use, that's a lot of abstraction you're paying for and don't need.
Why UK hosting matters
Data sovereignty and lower latency.
If you're a UK or European developer, hosting your build infrastructure in the US means:
- Higher latency — SSH sessions feel sluggish, file transfers take longer, VNC is noticeably delayed
- Data jurisdiction — your source code and build artifacts sit under US law. Post-Brexit, that's a consideration for some teams
- US pricing — prices are set for the US market. The exchange rate adds 10–15% on top
- US business hours — support is available on US time, which means waiting until the afternoon for responses
Halfpenny Mac is UK-hosted, UK-priced, and UK-supported. SSH latency is typically under 15ms from anywhere in the UK.
Ready to get started?
Sign up and your Mac mini comes online in minutes when a ready-provisioned machine is waiting, within 48 hours at most. No contracts, cancel anytime.