macOS compute / AWS EC2 Mac Dedicated Hosts alternative

AWS EC2 Mac alternative for portable agent stages

EC2 Mac supplies real Apple hardware through a Dedicated Host and uses EBS for durable installed-system storage. The host, EBS volumes and instance have different lifecycles. Split portable agent work from Mac-only build/signing stages before comparing a short agent task with a host allocation.

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Reviewed 2026-10-19 · Published by the Sandbox0 team

When AWS EC2 Mac Dedicated Hosts fits

Choose EC2 Mac for Xcode, Apple platform testing/signing and AWS-integrated Mac infrastructure. Keep those native stages on suitable Apple hardware; Linux Sandbox0 cannot execute a macOS machine image.

When to consider Sandbox0

Consider Sandbox0 for compatible Linux agent work that should retain its whole writable RootFS, grow online and support paused-file operations. A combined workflow can keep the required EC2 Mac stage and move portable orchestration or repository tasks separately.

Capabilities

AWS EC2 Mac Dedicated Hosts and Sandbox0: what persists?

Feature comparison with documentation and verification status
Environment and runtime lifetimeAWS EC2 Mac Dedicated HostsThe twenty-four-hour minimum governs Dedicated Host allocation, not a command deadline. Instance stop and host release have separate lifecycles.View evidence ↗Sandbox0ttl and hard_ttl default to 0 (disabled). Configure idle pause and deletion policies for the same persistent sandbox identity; an idle running sandbox still accrues compute charges.Read documentation →
Persistent filesAWS EC2 Mac Dedicated HostsEBS provides durable storage; AWS recommends it instead of relying on the hardware’s internal SSD.View evidence ↗Sandbox0The writable RootFS survives successful checkpoints, including software, system configuration, dependencies, and user data.Read documentation →
Whole RootFSAWS EC2 Mac Dedicated HostsThe EBS-backed installed macOS system can retain system tools and configuration.View evidence ↗Sandbox0Persistence extends beyond /workspace to paths such as /usr/local, /etc, and /home. Runtime tmpfs and virtual filesystems are excluded.Read documentation →
Release compute, keep stateAWS EC2 Mac Dedicated HostsStop/start can retain EBS data, with host scrubbing and allocation rules; live RAM restoration is unestablished.View evidence ↗Sandbox0Pause compute between tasks; resume on available capacity. Default resume starts fresh processes from the saved filesystem.Read documentation →
Memory and process stateAWS EC2 Mac Dedicated HostsThe documented Mac instance and EBS lifecycle does not establish arbitrary running-memory checkpoint recovery.View evidence ↗Sandbox0Experimental memory checkpoints can preserve compatible process state. Use memory: true on both pause and resume on a compatible deployment. A filesystem checkpoint alone does not preserve running processes.Read documentation →

Online RootFS growth

On growth-enabled images, Sandbox0 automatically expands the writable RootFS as free space runs low, within a configured sparse logical ceiling up to 64 TiB. Agent processes keep running. Growth is enabled in the qualified Cloud region; confirm activation for other regions. Existing images and snapshots retain their captured storage geometry. The ceiling is logical capacity, not preallocated host disk.

EC2 Mac supports EBS growth, but the running-instance procedure requires a reboot followed by APFS container expansion. It already retains the installed system; Sandbox0’s online automatic RootFS growth applies to a different, compatible Linux runtime.

Files while compute is paused

Sandbox0's Files API reads persistent files without resuming compute. Filesystem-only pauses also permit edits; retained-memory pauses are read-only and reject mutations with 409. SSH, SFTP, file watching, and runtime-only mounts require running compute.

Retained EBS volumes and snapshots provide storage building blocks. Accessing Mac filesystem contents through other tooling requires appropriate OS/filesystem support and coordination; the cited Mac service does not establish a native paused whole-RootFS file API.

See paused file operations →

The Dedicated Host is the billing unit

AWS permits one Mac instance per Dedicated Host and requires at least 24 hours of host allocation before release. The instance itself adds no extra compute fee. A short-running command therefore is not automatically priced as a short host reservation; select the actual region, Mac model and applicable plan.

Source 1 ↗Source 2 ↗

Stopping also triggers a host-scrubbing workflow

AWS scrubs the internal SSD and related host state after stop/terminate. Dedicated Host metering pauses during its pending scrubbing state. EBS remains a separate durable storage resource; release eligibility and ongoing host allocation must be checked independently of the instance’s stopped state.

Source 1 ↗Source 2 ↗

Growing the Mac filesystem can require a reboot

After enlarging EBS on an already running Mac instance, AWS requires rebooting to expose the new size, then expanding the APFS container. Expansion at launch has different reboot requirements. This is explicit disk/guest maintenance rather than automatic online low-space RootFS growth.

Source 1 ↗

Pricing

Compare billing models, then price your workload

CPU allocation, memory, billing minimums, disk, plan fees, and supported workload differ. These meters are not equal-performance machine quotes. Confirm region, resource units, and included allowances before estimating a total.

AWS EC2 Mac Dedicated Hosts

Pricing reviewed 2026-10-19

EC2 Mac compute unit
Dedicated Host rate for selected region/model
Obtain the current On-Demand or applicable Savings Plan quote; instance compute is not charged again.
Rate source ↗
Minimum host allocation
24 hours before release
A minimum host-allocation/billing boundary, not a 24-hour per-command deadline.
Rate source ↗
EBS, snapshots and networking
Separate applicable AWS charges
Retained storage continues independently; host scrubbing has its own metering exception.
Rate source ↗

A current regional/model host quote is required for a numeric total. Do not substitute an old Mac launch announcement or a generic EC2 Linux rate. Include EBS provisioned capacity/performance, snapshots, IP, traffic and applicable software/tax terms.

Check current AWS EC2 Mac Dedicated Hosts pricing ↗

Sandbox0

$0.015/GiB-hour compute (billed by the second at approximately $0.000004167/GiB-second), plus $0.02/GiB-month of retained incremental RootFS and memory checkpoint data. Shared base images and platform recovery retention are excluded; paused sandboxes accrue storage charges only.

Compute / GiB-hour
$0.015
Retained data / GiB-month
$0.02
Paused compute
$0.00

A 4 GiB agent, 100 running hours

$6.00 compute

4 GiB × 100 hours, billed by the second. Keeping 20 GiB of billable incremental data for a full billing month adds $0.40. CPU is derived from memory by the platform; choose a tier that fits your workload.

Understand storage billing →

Before migrating from AWS EC2 Mac Dedicated Hosts

  1. Inventory Mac model/region, host allocation timing, EBS and deletion settings, scrubbing behavior, signing material and native SDK needs.
  2. Transfer portable repository/agent stages and required files to a Linux template while keeping native builds/signing on EC2 Mac.
  3. Test artifact handoff, retained system tools, RootFS growth, paused files and combined host, EBS, network and Linux runtime costs.

Common questions

Is Sandbox0 a drop-in AWS EC2 Mac Dedicated Hosts replacement?

Evaluate API compatibility and product scope. These products serve different core workflows, so a change may require a different architecture.

Does keeping files also keep a running agent?

Filesystem state and volatile process state are separate. Sandbox0 requires explicit compatible memory checkpoints to preserve running processes; its default filesystem resume starts fresh processes.

Sources and review scope

The Boat team's Battleships directory is the discovery source. References below describe the product and plan discussed on this page. Check current availability, regional terms and billing units before migrating. Where the cited material does not establish a capability or price, the comparison identifies that uncertainty.

Battleships research record ↗docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/ec2-mac-instances.html ↗aws.amazon.com/ec2/dedicated-hosts/pricing/ ↗docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/mac-instance-stop.html ↗docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/mac-instance-increase-volume.html ↗Sandbox0 RootFS capacity →

Related comparisons

Flow Swiss Mac Bare Metal vs Sandbox0 →Green Mini host vs Sandbox0 →HostMyApple Mac VPS / Dedicated vs Sandbox0 →MacinCloud Dedicated / Managed vs Sandbox0 →MacStadium Macs / Orka vs Sandbox0 →OakHost Dedicated Mac Hosting vs Sandbox0 →