# AWS EC2 Mac (Dedicated Host)

Official pricing: https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/mac/  
Category: macos · Isolation: dedicated-host

## Pricing regimes (raw)

- **On-Demand Dedicated Host, whole Mac (us-east-1)** (sizes): mac2.metal (Apple M1, 8 vCPU / 16 GiB) 8 vCPU/16 GiB $0.65/h; mac2-m2.metal (Apple M2, 8 vCPU / 24 GiB) 8 vCPU/24 GiB $0.878/h; mac-m4.metal (Apple M4, 10 vCPU / 24 GiB) 10 vCPU/24 GiB $1.23/h; mac1.metal (Intel Core i7, 12 vCPU / 32 GiB) 12 vCPU/32 GiB $1.083/h; mac2-m2pro.metal (Apple M2 Pro, 12 vCPU / 32 GiB) 12 vCPU/32 GiB $1.56/h; mac-m4pro.metal (Apple M4 Pro, 14 vCPU / 48 GiB) 14 vCPU/48 GiB $1.97/h
- **Host split into 2 macOS VMs (Apple SLA cap), per-VM price** (sizes): 1/2 of mac2.metal (Apple M1, 8 vCPU / 16 GiB) 4 vCPU/8 GiB $0.325/h; 1/2 of mac2-m2.metal (Apple M2, 8 vCPU / 24 GiB) 4 vCPU/12 GiB $0.439/h; 1/2 of mac-m4.metal (Apple M4, 10 vCPU / 24 GiB) 5 vCPU/12 GiB $0.615/h; 1/2 of mac1.metal (Intel Core i7, 12 vCPU / 32 GiB) 6 vCPU/16 GiB $0.5415/h; 1/2 of mac2-m2pro.metal (Apple M2 Pro, 12 vCPU / 32 GiB) 6 vCPU/16 GiB $0.78/h; 1/2 of mac-m4pro.metal (Apple M4 Pro, 14 vCPU / 48 GiB) 7 vCPU/24 GiB $0.985/h [alt]

## Features

Yes: snapshots, persistent disk, volumes, ≥24 h sessions, custom image (Docker or snapshot), start from your own snapshot, full VM (own kernel), nested virtualization, root, browser, desktop GUI, SSH, public IPv4, custom domains, raw TCP inbound, egress allowlist, open internet, static egress IP, private networking, SOC 2, HIPAA, SSO, arm64, macOS, Python, HTTP method/path egress rules, audit logs, EU data residency, snapshots on demand, gVisor or VM (no shared kernel), inbound access rules, firewall inside (nftables), extra volumes, shared volumes

No: memory snapshots, fork/clone, pause/resume, idle auto-stop, your own Docker/OCI image, Docker inside, systemd, computer-use API, code interpreter, browser + desktop control, anti-bot stealth, CAPTCHA solving, residential IPs, preinstalled agents, HTTPS preview URLs, self-hosting, BYOC, open source, GPU, Windows, Node.js, GPU desktop, wake on request, live resize, live fork (no pause), memory fork, webhooks, spend limits, MCP server, automatic snapshots, agent harness API, hosted agent API (their own agent), secret proxy, secret proxy for any API

Unknown: everything else. Evidence (source + quote) per feature: https://battleships.dev/data/providers/aws-ec2-mac.json → feature_evidence

## Caveats

- 24-hour minimum allocation per Dedicated Host (AWS: 'per second with a 24-hour minimum allocation period'); releasing and re-allocating daily costs 24 h each time, so keeping hosts all month is usually cheaper.
- After release a host goes through scrubbing before reuse (reported 1-3 h, unverified).
- Savings Plans ('up to 44 percent off On-Demand pricing with a 3-year commitment') not encoded: per-type Savings Plan rates not fetched.
- EBS gp3 $0.08/GB-month, snapshots $0.05/GB-month, IPv4 $0.005/h (VPC pricing page) and 100 GB/month free egress (EC2 pricing page) are us-east-1 list values; the $0.09/GB first-tier egress rate was not re-fetched from an official page (long-standing list value).
- mac1.metal vCPU: AWS docs list 12 vCPU (6 cores, HT); the instance-types page lists 6. Encoded as 12.
- Regional prices differ (e.g. eu-central-1 mac-m4 $1.476/h, eu-west-1 $1.353/h); card uses us-east-1.
- No agent/computer-use API: bring your own VNC/accessibility driver. Leasing Macs for non-developer uses is a grey zone under Apple's macOS SLA.
- Two-VMs-per-host mode is a DIY packing estimate, not an AWS product.
- month_cap = 730 x hourly per host (a host allocated all month is billed at most 730 h); lets the engine cap bursty sessions at C hosts kept allocated instead of 24 h per session.
- AWS Free Tier: up to $100 more in credits can be earned by completing console activities, on top of the $100 signup credit (not encoded; eligibility for Mac Dedicated Hosts not verified).

## How this provider charges


An EC2 Mac instance is a **whole physical Mac on a Dedicated Host**. You pay per host-hour from allocation to release, billed per second, with a **24-hour minimum allocation** (Apple macOS SLA). All prices below come from AWS's official metered price JSON (`dedicatedhost-ondemand.json`, fetched 2026-09-28). The sweep's M4/M3 Ultra figures (originally from Vantage) are **confirmed** by that official file.

## Regime table

| # | Regime | When it applies | How billed | Numbers (us-east-1) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | On-Demand Dedicated Host | Default | Per second while the host is allocated. **24 h minimum** per allocation. Billed even when the instance is stopped | mac2 M1 8 vCPU/16 GiB **$0.65/h**; mac2-m2 8/24 $0.878; mac-m4 10/24 **$1.23**; mac1 Intel 12/32 $1.083; mac2-m2pro 12/32 $1.56; mac-m4pro 14/48 **$1.97**; mac-m4max 16/128 $6.25; mac2-m1ultra 20/128 $5.00; mac-m3ultra 28/256 $12.50 | https://b0.p.awsstatic.com/pricing/2.0/meteredUnitMaps/ec2/USD/current/dedicatedhost-ondemand.json, https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/mac/ |
| 2 | 24 h floor | Every allocation | Minimum charge = 24 × hourly | mac2 $15.60, mac-m4 $29.52, mac-m4pro $47.28, mac-m3ultra $300 | same + Apple macOS SLA §3 |
| 3 | Regional pricing | Non-us-east-1 regions | Same model at different rates | e.g. mac-m4 eu-central-1 $1.476, eu-west-1 $1.353, ap-southeast-2 $1.538. M4 Max / M3 Ultra only in us-east-1 and us-west-2 | dedicatedhost-ondemand.json |
| 4 | 2 macOS VMs per host (DIY) | You run Tart/Anka/Lume on the host | Host price split over at most 2 guest VMs (Apple SLA cap) | Per VM = host / 2 (e.g. M1 half-host 4 vCPU/8 GiB ≈ $0.325/h) | https://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/macOS27.pdf |
| 5 | Savings Plans | 1- or 3-year commitment | Discount on host-hours | "up to 44 percent off On-Demand pricing with a 3-year commitment". Per-type rates not fetched | https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/mac/ |
| 6 | EBS root + volumes | Always (EBS boot) | Per provisioned GB-month, also while stopped | gp3 $0.08/GB-month; snapshots $0.05/GB-month | https://aws.amazon.com/ebs/pricing/ |
| 7 | Public IPv4 | Per address | Per hour, in use or idle | $0.005/h ($3.65/month) | https://aws.amazon.com/vpc/pricing/ |
| 8 | Internet egress | Account-wide | 100 GB/month free across AWS, then tiered | $0.09/GB first tier (long-standing list, not re-fetched) | https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/on-demand/ |

## Gotchas

1. **24 h floor plus scrubbing.** You cannot release a host before 24 h. After release it is scrubbed (reported 1-3 h) before anyone can reuse it. Short agent sessions pay for a full day.
2. **Stopped ≠ free.** The host bills while allocated, whatever state the instance is in.
3. **Whole Mac only.** The smallest unit is an 8-vCPU M1 Mac. A 4 vCPU/8 GiB need wastes half the host unless you pack 2 VMs on it.
4. **Licensing.** Apple allows leasing only for "Permitted Developer Services" (build/test/dev tools). General computer-use agents are a grey zone.
5. **No agent API.** You need your own VNC/accessibility driver (e.g. Cua Driver, Lume).
6. **Quotas.** Dedicated Host quotas per family and region; M4 Max / M3 Ultra only in two regions.

## Worked example

Workload: 4 vCPU / 8 GiB, 50 concurrent × 8 h/day × 22 days (8,800 h), 30% CPU, 50 GiB snapshots, 100 GiB egress.

Assumptions: cheapest fitting host is mac2 (M1, 8/16) at $0.65/h; 100 GiB gp3 root per host; one public IPv4 per host. CPU utilisation does not matter (allocation billing).

| Regime | Host-hours | Compute | EBS | Snapshots | Egress | IPv4 | **Monthly** |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 hosts kept all month | 50 × 730 | $23,725.00 | $400.00 | $2.50 | $0 (100 GB free) | $182.50 | **$24,310.00** |
| 50 hosts, allocated 24 h per workday (22 × 24 h) | 50 × 528 | $17,160.00 | $400.00 | $2.50 | $0 | $132.00 | **$17,694.50** |
| 2 VMs per host, 25 hosts all month | 25 × 730 | $11,862.50 | $400.00 (200 GiB/host) | $2.50 | $0 | $91.25 | **$12,356.25** |
| 2 VMs per host, 25 hosts × 528 h | 25 × 528 | $8,580.00 | $400.00 | $2.50 | $0 | $66.00 | **$9,048.50** |

The 8 h/day pattern costs the same as 24 h/day because of the 24 h floor. Releasing daily only saves weekends, and scrubbing makes it risky.

Sources: https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/mac/ · https://b0.p.awsstatic.com/pricing/2.0/meteredUnitMaps/ec2/USD/current/dedicatedhost-ondemand.json · https://aws.amazon.com/ebs/pricing/ · https://aws.amazon.com/vpc/pricing/ · https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/on-demand/ · https://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/macOS27.pdf