macOS compute / Scaleway Apple silicon Mac minis alternative

Scaleway Apple Silicon alternative for portable agents

Scaleway Apple silicon allocates dedicated Mac minis with retained system SSDs. macOS rentals have a minimum lease, and powered-off hardware stays billed. Compare the selected OS, region and commitment with portable agent work; native Apple development still needs an appropriate Mac.

Start buildingCompare capabilities ↓

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

When Scaleway Apple silicon Mac minis fits

Choose Scaleway for dedicated Apple hardware and its cloud integration, including native Mac build/signing workflows. Its optional alternative Linux OS has different installation and minimum-lease conditions.

When to consider Sandbox0

Consider Sandbox0 for compatible Linux agents needing a managed durable growing RootFS and supported file access while guest compute is paused. Keep native Apple tools and device-specific workloads on suitable hardware.

Capabilities

Scaleway Apple silicon Mac minis and Sandbox0: what persists?

Feature comparison with documentation and verification status
Environment and runtime lifetimeScaleway Apple silicon Mac minisNot established in this reviewSandbox0ttl 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 filesScaleway Apple silicon Mac minisDedicated Mac configurations include retained local system SSDs while allocated.View evidence ↗Sandbox0The writable RootFS survives successful checkpoints, including software, system configuration, dependencies, and user data.Read documentation →
Whole RootFSScaleway Apple silicon Mac minisThe dedicated machine can retain its installed OS, system tools and user state.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 stateScaleway Apple silicon Mac minisPower-off retains a billed physical allocation; arbitrary memory-preserving release/restore 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 stateScaleway Apple silicon Mac minisThe cited Mac service 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.

A retained Scaleway Mac already holds its whole installed system on physical SSD. Model/storage and OS administration differ from Sandbox0’s integrated automatic low-space online growth for a compatible Linux RootFS.

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.

A retained local disk and cloud power controls do not specify arbitrary file-level operations on a stopped Mac while its guest compute remains off. Additional storage/host tooling needs its own access and consistency design.

See paused file operations →

Power-off does not release the physical allocation

Billing starts when the Mac is created and normally ends when deleted; powered-off Macs remain allocated and billed. macOS has a 24-hour minimum lease before deletion. The FAQ separately exempts its alternative Asahi Linux installation from that minimum, so do not apply the macOS rule to every OS option.

Source 1 ↗Source 2 ↗

Monthly commitment changes cancellation timing

A monthly commitment renews on the anniversary date. Deletion under commitment takes effect at that date, and Scaleway says switching back from monthly commitment to hourly billing is currently unavailable. Include the chosen commitment rather than treating a displayed monthly amount as an unrestricted hourly cap.

Source 1 ↗

Match the regional model and network option

The PAR-1 pricing table gives separate M1, M2 and M4 configurations and hourly/monthly references. Private Network is an optional separately priced service. Local system SSD persistence is already present; a hardware/network quote is not a managed Linux agent lifecycle contract.

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.

Scaleway Apple silicon Mac minis

Pricing reviewed 2026-10-19

PAR-1 M1-M reference
€0.11/hour; €75 monthly reference
M1 / 8 GB / 256 GB SSD; hourly versus committed terms must be selected explicitly.
Rate source ↗
PAR-1 M2-M reference
€0.17/hour; €115 monthly reference
M2 / 16 GB / 256 GB SSD; confirm available model and billing mode.
Rate source ↗
PAR-1 M4-SP reference
€0.24/hour; €165 monthly reference
M4 / 16 GB / 512 GB SSD; optional Private Network costs extra.
Rate source ↗

The public references use EUR and the selected PAR-1 table. Confirm VAT, current region/model inventory, OS, commitment and optional network charges. Do not multiply a discounted monthly reference as though it were the unrestricted hourly tariff or assume power-off ends billing.

Check current Scaleway Apple silicon Mac minis 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 Scaleway Apple silicon Mac minis

  1. Inventory OS/model/region, local SSD state, native tools, minimum lease, current commitment anniversary and optional networking.
  2. Export portable agent files and recreate compatible Linux stages while retaining Mac-native builds, signing and testing.
  3. Test handoff, retained tools, online growth, paused files and combined allocated hardware, network, tax and Linux runtime costs.

Common questions

Is Sandbox0 a drop-in Scaleway Apple silicon Mac minis 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 ↗www.scaleway.com/en/docs/billing/faq/ ↗www.scaleway.com/en/docs/apple-silicon/faq/ ↗www.scaleway.com/en/docs/apple-silicon/how-to/manage-commitment-plan/ ↗www.scaleway.com/en/pricing/apple-silicon/ ↗Sandbox0 RootFS capacity →

Related comparisons

AWS EC2 Mac Dedicated Hosts vs Sandbox0 →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 →