# use.computer

Official pricing: https://use.computer/  
Category: macos · Isolation: apple-vm

## Pricing regimes (raw)

- **Reserved M4 Mac mini, priced per macOS VM slot (2 VMs per Mac)** (sizes): split: macOS VM slot = half of a reserved M4 Mac mini (5 CPU / 8 GiB) 5 vCPU/8 GiB $0.45/h; whole: one VM per reserved Mac (10 CPU / 16 GiB) 10 vCPU/16 GiB $0.9/h

## Features

Yes: snapshots, fork/clone, idle auto-stop, ≥24 h sessions, custom image (Docker or snapshot), start from your own snapshot, full VM (own kernel), browser, desktop GUI, computer-use API, desktop control API, browser + desktop control, SSH, static egress IP, arm64, macOS, Python, Node.js, live fork (no pause), snapshots on demand, gVisor or VM (no shared kernel), inbound access rules

No: memory snapshots, pause/resume, persistent disk, volumes, your own Docker/OCI image, Docker inside, nested virtualization, systemd, code interpreter, anti-bot stealth, CAPTCHA solving, residential IPs, preinstalled agents, public IPv4, HTTPS preview URLs, egress allowlist, self-hosting, BYOC, open source, SSO, GPU, Windows, GPU desktop, HTTP method/path egress rules, wake on request, live resize, memory fork, EU data residency, MCP server, automatic snapshots, agent harness API, hosted agent API (their own agent), firewall inside (nftables), secret proxy, secret proxy for any API, extra volumes, shared volumes

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

## Caveats

- Rate resolved 2026-09-29: the live API config that drives the dashboard price calculator returns hourly_rate_cents 90 ($0.90/h per Mac, matching the homepage); the dashboard computes total = Macs x hours x rate. The docs' $1.91/h (Quick start, Lifecycle, llms-full.txt) is stale text.
- Billing boundary is the Mac reservation, not the sandbox: you pay 24 h minimum per Mac even for a 10-minute session. Encoded as min_billed_seconds 86400 per VM slot; reserving continuously for the month (730 h) is cheaper than re-reserving daily only when sessions span >~20 h/day.
- VM slot price assumes both VM slots of each Mac are used; 1 VM per Mac costs $0.90/h.
- VM shape by layout (OpenAPI VMLayout): split 5 CPU / 8 GiB x2 per Mac (default) or whole 10 CPU / 16 GiB x1; larger workloads cannot run. Docs prose says 4 cores + 8 GB per VM (older text).
- cold_start_ms 1000 = vendor claim "<1s warm boot" on pre-booted reserved Macs, not measured.
- Snapshot storage, egress and regions not published (null). Support contact is support@daytona.io; Daytona routes macOS sandboxes here.
- Licensing: Apple permits Mac leasing for "Permitted Developer Services"; general computer-use agent workloads are a grey zone. Apple macOS SLA: leasing a Mac requires a minimum lease of 24 consecutive hours with sole use by the lessee, and allows at most 2 additional macOS VMs per Mac.
- Idle VMs (~2 min without HTTP/SSH/VNC) are reaped and replaced by a fresh clone; the Mac reservation keeps billing. Snapshots are portable disk images, no memory resume. Docs rate $1.91/h per Mac re-confirmed on docs.use.computer/docs/concepts 2026-09-28; homepage $0.90 could not be re-rendered this pass, so the conflict stands (at $1.91 the bill is 2.12x).
- Payment is prepaid only: reservations are paid from a credit balance or Stripe checkout; credit packs $1-$1,000. No postpaid/overage; if credits are insufficient the reservation (or edit) is refused (HTTP 402).
- Terms (Crucible Fund LLC, effective 2026-06-03): fees are billed up front for the full committed period and are non-refundable, including unused reservations and early termination; promotional credits may be modified or withdrawn at any time.
- VM layout 'split' (default, two 5 CPU / 8 GiB VMs) or 'whole' (one 10 CPU / 16 GiB VM) at the same per-Mac price; layout changes need zero active sandboxes.

## How this provider charges


use.computer sells macOS sandboxes for computer-use agents on dedicated Apple M4 Mac minis. You do not rent a sandbox; you rent a **reservation** of N Mac minis for X hours (X ≥ 24), paid up front. Inside the reservation you can create and destroy as many sandboxes as you like, with at most 2 macOS VMs at a time per Mac. Each Mac is a stock M4 with 16 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD, and each VM gets "4 cores + 8 GB". Daytona's macOS sandbox docs route here, and the support address is support@daytona.io.

**Price conflict:** the homepage says **$0.90/hr per Mac** (twice), but the docs (Quick start and Lifecycle) say "**Reservations cost $1.91/hour per Mac**" and "You pay up front ($1.91/hr × N × X)". The card uses the homepage list price. At the docs rate every number below is 2.12× higher.

## Regime table

| # | Regime | When it applies | How billed | Numbers | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mac reservation | Always. `client.reserve(hours=24, mini_count=1)` or the dashboard | Up front: rate × N Macs × X hours. Minimum 24 h (Apple SLA lease floor) | **$0.90/h per Mac** (homepage) or $1.91/h (docs). 24 h minimum = **$21.60** (or $45.84) per Mac | https://use.computer/, https://docs.use.computer/llms-full.txt |
| 2 | Per-VM effective rate | Both VM slots of each Mac used | Same reservation, split over 2 VMs | $0.45/h per VM (or $0.955/h) | derived |
| 3 | Single VM on a Mac | Odd VM count, or only one VM | Whole Mac billed | $0.90/h per VM | derived |
| 4 | Sandboxes inside a reservation | create/delete, warm boot <1 s | No extra charge | $0 | docs Lifecycle |
| 5 | End of reservation | `end_at` passes | All sandboxes destroyed, Macs return to the pool | – | docs Lifecycle |
| 6 | Snapshots | `box.snapshot()`, portable disk deltas, forkable across reserved Macs | Price not published | null | https://use.computer/ |
| 7 | Free credit | New account, no card | One-time | **$100** starter credit, one per account | homepage + docs |
| 8 | Egress / IPv4 / regions | – | Not published. "10 Gbps network" | null | homepage |
| 9 | Capacity | – | "The production fleet currently has 28 Mac minis live" | ≈ 56 concurrent VMs | docs |

## Gotchas

1. **Resolve the $0.90 vs $1.91 conflict before quoting.** Nobody states which is current. The homepage CTA ("reserve Mac minis at $0.90/hr") and the docs disagree by 2.12×.
2. **The 24 h lease floor dominates short sessions.** A 10-minute agent run costs a 24 h Mac reservation ($21.60) unless it fits inside a reservation you already hold. The card encodes this as min_billed_seconds 86400 per VM slot.
3. **Pay per Mac, not per VM.** The $0.45/VM-h figure only holds when VMs are paired.
4. **Fixed VM shape** of 4 cores / 8 GB. Nothing bigger is offered.
5. **Fleet size is small** (28 Macs), so 50+ concurrent VMs may not be available.
6. **Licensing:** Apple allows leasing only for "Permitted Developer Services". Non-dev computer-use agents are a grey zone.

## Worked example

Workload: 4 vCPU / 8 GiB fits exactly one VM slot. 50 concurrent × 8 h/day × 22 days = 8,800 VM-hours in 1,100 sessions. 50 VMs = **25 Macs**. Snapshots (50 GiB) and egress (100 GiB) are unpriced ($0 assumed).

| Strategy | Maths | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Reserve 25 Macs for 24 h on each working day (card / engine view: 1,100 sessions × 24 h × $0.45) | 25 × 24 × 22 × $0.90 | **$11,880** |
| Reserve 25 Macs for the whole month | 25 × 730 × $0.90 | $16,425 |
| Same two strategies at the docs rate ($1.91) | | $25,212 / $34,857.50 |
| $100 starter credit | one-time | −$100 once |

30% CPU makes no difference, because billing is on the reservation.

Sources: https://use.computer/ · https://docs.use.computer/ · https://docs.use.computer/llms-full.txt · https://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/macOS27.pdf