MacinCloud vs MacStadium Comparison

MacinCloud and MacStadium are two cloud services. They are all well-loved by people. If you are interested in them and want to choose one, here is the comparison of both of them so that you can make a right decision.

MacinCloud

MacinCloud is known as the loading cloud Mac solution provider with global presence. The servers of it are able to be managed and accessed from anywhere with Internet access if you want to develop apps and perform tasks that need a Mac.

Why do you have to choose MacinCloud? The service and the solutions of MacinCloud cover a wide range of project needs. There are a lot of featured apps and SDKs related to the service offerings. Some of them include Visual Studio, Xamarin, Xcode, Mono, Ionic, Expo, Corona, Cordova, Node.js, Visual Studio Code, Android Studio, and Cocoapods.

Details of MacinCloud:

• Rating: 2.3
• Latest check: 1 day ago
• Domain age: 10 years old
• IP address: 104.26.42
• Hoster: CloudFlare, Inc.
• Owner: Moboware Inc.
• Global Rank: 94649
• Google PR: 4
• Yandex CY: –
• Daily visitors: 12.2K
• Daily pageviews: 48.7K
• Pageview per user: 4
• Top countries: India (18.9%), USA (17.3%), Egypt (6.3%), Turkey (5.6%)
• Top keywords: MacinCloud (14.33%), mac in cloud (10.88%), mac in the cloud (4.24%), mac on cloud (3.59%), mac cloud (3.41%)
• Top site linking in: delphi.org (3), boinst.wordpress.com (0), debuggerdotbreak.judahgabriel.com (0), cordovablogsblogs.workpress.com (0), wesetupyourwebviewapp.com (0)

MacStadium

MacStadium refers to the only one provider of enterprise class cloud solutions for Mac and iOS app development. For those who need a Mac cloud for large scale CI or CD or just need a single Mac mini to test the iOS app, MacStadium is the one that has the solution for all of your Mac development needs.

Why do you need to choose MacStadium? The private clouds or dedicated Mac hardware of it is the best option for your Mac infrastructure. Everyone loves it, including the tech giants, enterprises, and growing startups as it is easy to use and offers high performance private clouds.

Pros of MacStadium:

• Simplicity: MacStadium is a lot of easier compared to managing Macs in house. It is easy to setup, manage, and maintain the Mac infrastructure.
• Security: MacStadium has state of the art data centers that is as secure as AWS of Azure (ISO 27001 and SSAE 16 certifications). You can sleep well knowing your data is safe.
• Scalability: MacStadium is able to meet the needs of any business from growing startups to large enterprises. Infinity scalability is just really easy.
• Availability: MacStadium has global footprint with 99.99% uptime and HA configurations. There is also 24/7 access to remote hands and Apple Mac networking experts.
• Expertise: MacStadium is trusted by a lot of DevOps teams around the globe. They are ready to help you build and support everything that you need.

Details of MacStadium:

• Rating: 1
• Latest check: 20 days ago
• Domain age: 8 years ago
• IP address: 35.153.248.116
• Hoster: Amazon Data Services NoVa
• Owner: MacStadium, Inc.
• Global Rank: 209699
• Google PR: 4
• Yandex CY: –
• Daily visitors: 7.81K
• Daily pageviews: 18.8K
• Pageview per user: 2.4
• Top countries: USA (56.4%), India (17.4%), Turkey (4.0%)
• Top keywords: macstadium (14.98%), mac stadium (4.41%), mac in cloud (3.08%), vsphere client mac (2.53%), mac cloud (1.66%)
• Top site linking in: exim.org (6), macminicolo.net (5), macminiserver.com (2), netbrackets.com (2), rocketforge.org (0)

So, which one is the best, MacinCloud or MacStadium?

Right now, there are two main players in the cloud based Mac field: MacinCloud and MacStadium. While it is not easy to decide which one is best among these two, it actually does not really make sense since both companies offer service that only partly overlap.

MacStadium is known for having tons of Mac Minis in the data center, as well as some Mac Pro, new Mac Pros in days and a few Ione iMac Pro machines. There are a lot of infrastructures to build to make the cloud Macs looks good. It is also the best way for the average user.

You can rent a single dedicated Mac Mini for a fixed monthly prize and do anything that you want with it. Aside from that, you can also rent time on the aforementioned Mac Pros from there or spend a couple of dollars for enterprise grade Mac cloud solutions.

For individual users, it is probably the perfect choice of the two. Spending $79 per month for a dedicated Mac Mini with 24 hours and 7 days support is worth it. Don’t you think so?

It is the reason why MacinCloud offers some interesting pricing options. You can try the pay-as-you-go option, meaning you will only need to pay for the hours that you use and no more. The amount starts from $30 for 30 hours, but it actually varies as you customize the hardware that you want.

On top of that, some eGPU options are also offered by MacinCloud. The other options focus on the enterprise and they offer servers at fixed monthly prices with some different kinds of limitations depending on the one that you select. MacinCloud is the recommended one for those who want to use the technology for app development.

MacinCloud and MacStudio alternatives

Both MacinCloud and MacStudio have their advantages and disadvantages. They are similar but have some differences. If MacinCloud and MacStudio do not suit you, the most popular alternative is XCodeClub.com. This one offers the greatest range of the cloud based Apple products and services that are available anywhere on the web. Every plan is offered on top tier Apple Branded Hardware and supported by the techs at VirtualMAcOSX.com. The prices of the cloud based Macs are affordable. One of the most interesting things is that you are able to cancel at any time you want by cancelling payment and severing the subscription with no further payment or obligations.

If the most popular alternative named XCodeClub.com also does not suit you, you might want to consider VirtualMacOSX.com (paid), wenz (paid), Padlet Briefcase, PureRef, SolidOpinion, and so on. Feel free to choose the one alternative that you want. Before trying one, it is better for you to dig out about them and also compare to the others.

Do you think the cloud services like MacinCloud and MacStadium can really replace a real physical Mac?

After all, Apple computers are loved for a reason. The hardware that comes with it is one of the most obvious ones. They have some of the best hardware in its field. Their products are ergonomically good, the screens look good and the experience is generally one that makes some people fall for them.

Actually, the design and the hardware are not the only one. MacOS and a lot of software packages related to Mac have their own dedicated fans. It is true that buying a Mac is not cheap, so some people are wondering if there is a way to easily access the Mac software world without having to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a physical Mac.

Usually, when you rent a cloud based computer, it is, in fact, considered as a virtual machine running on a big and multi core server. It is different with using a Mac in the cloud. The reason is because the macOS license agreement of Apple ties the software to the hardware. Basically, it is illegitimate to run macOS in a virtual machine that is not Apple hardware or to run it on non-Apple hardware. On the other words, the cloud based Mac that you are using is the real Mac hooked up to the remote computing systems. In this case, it is similar to using a local Mac that you have got right in front of your eyes. However, there are some serious warnings to take into account before you walk down the Cloud road.

Pros of Cloud Macs

The good thing of using a Mac in the cloud is that you will only have to pay for what you use. Everyone knows that buying a Mac is not cheap. There is no other way than that. The data center shares the Macs among a lot of users who each only use a little bit of time on every machine. It means the cost is divided between many people. However, every time you sign in, the Mac configuration should be waiting for you. The price varies from per hour or a fixed free for a given time period. The control of the cost is easy and there is no other way to get the access to macOS if you need it for such a low cost.

With cloud based Macs, you do not need to deal with all the headaches of owning a physical Mac. You will be able to enjoy your time without having to worry about your model being too outdated for the newest version of macOS of having to spend your time waiting for Apple to send back the critical work machine that has died. On top of that, you are able to access the cloud based Mac anywhere you want and using some different kinds of remote desktop clients. Still, everything depends on the specific service provider.

In short, cloud based Macs is the cheapest and the best way to use macOS. However, the main thing that you want to use macOS for is the main factor in the suitability of cloud Macs.

Cons of Cloud Macs 

It is clear that there are going to be some special considerations when the Mac that you are using is far away from your place. For a while, you probably will not able to enjoy the applications that you need right now. When you look at the game streaming like GeForce Now and Google Stadia, you can see that eliminating latency over the internet is a big engineering job. It is not the thing that can be approved by Mac providers for the most common use cases.

It leads to the next big issue, which is internet itself. For example, if you purchase an actual MacBook, then it will work despite not having an internet connection. There is no issue even when you are on a place or in a subway. As you know, if you cannot access the Internet for any reason, you cannot access the cloud Mac.

Another potential issue is how much control that you have over the cloud Mac. Many questions arise about the administrator access, whether you are able to install any software that you want, and if the data is private. The answer to all questions could be yes, but might be not. Please be aware of the terms and conditions of the service that you do sign on with.

Who should use the Macs based on cloud?

Some people are sure that cloud based Macs are not a replacement for a personal Mac. Instead, they are better to be used for the other cases and can be better compared to a fixed and local Mac computer. One of the good examples is for the developers of the macOS and iOS. Both MacinCloud and MacStadium are such excellent platforms and a lot of developers would like to make software for them. However, in this case, the cost of the hardware is a barrier stone. In this era, everyone is able to code, test, and publish the applications by just paying a monthly subscription.

A few institutions have also used the Macs based on cloud for their computer labs. Each student is able to do the Mac project on non Mac terminal, which means it is less expensive to replace and it does not need on site tech support to maintain them. The cloud based Macs are even used by some people as web servers for their own small websites.

One of the good use cases for this kind of Macs is for professional users. If you have to run workstation grade software such as macOS 3D rendering jobs when a Mac Pro is needed, the job can be done by renting one remotely.