NoMacSelf-hosted macOS runner alternative
NoMac CI vs a self-hosted Mac mini
A Mac mini runner costs $899 up front, and its updates, cleanup and security are yours. NoMac CI gives every GitHub Actions job a fresh Mac for $0.90 an hour, with nothing to maintain.
A fresh Mac for every GitHub Actions job.
$0.90/hour per job · billed per minute · no subscription
7-day money-back guarantee on your first purchase. Prices checked 2 November 2026 from public list prices.
What a self-hosted Mac mini is
A Mac you buy and register as a GitHub Actions runner. The entry Mac mini (M6, 16 GB, 256 GB) is $899 from Apple. GitHub charges nothing for self-hosted runner minutes today (a planned $0.002 a minute fee was postponed in December 2025), and you install, update, secure and clean the runner yourself.
NoMac CI vs a self-hosted Mac mini at a glance
| NoMac CI | A self-hosted Mac mini | |
|---|---|---|
| Up front | Nothing | $899 for an M6 Mac mini (16 GB, 256 GB) |
| Running cost | $0.90/hour per job, billed per minute | Power, network, space and your time |
| Clean machine per job | A fresh VM, deleted after each job | Only with automation you build |
| macOS and Xcode updates | Done for you | Yours to install |
| Public repositories | Every job in its own VM | Not recommended by GitHub |
Why teams choose NoMac CI
- ✓The $899 a Mac mini costs buys about 999 hours of NoMac CI jobs, with no hardware to buy, host or replace.
- ✓A fresh VM for every job, deleted when it ends. GitHub's docs say self-hosted runners have no guarantee of a clean VM per job and can be persistently compromised by untrusted code.
- ✓Nothing to maintain: no macOS or Xcode updates to install, no disk to clean and no machine to secure.
- ✓Fit for public repositories: one job never leaves anything behind for the next. GitHub recommends self-hosted runners for private repositories only.
- ✓Two jobs at once on every account, more on request, with no second Mac to buy.
The verdict
A Mac of your own costs a Mac up front and an engineer's time after. NoMac CI costs the minutes your jobs run, on a fresh Mac every time.
Switch in one line
Connect GitHub once, then point your macOS jobs at NoMac:
jobs:
test:
- runs-on: [self-hosted, macOS, ARM64]
+ runs-on: nomac
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v5Steps, actions and secrets stay as they are. The docs cover the machine, the limits and secrets.
Questions
What is the best alternative to a self-hosted Mac mini for macOS jobs on GitHub Actions?＋
NoMac CI: change runs-on to nomac and every job runs on a fresh Apple silicon Mac with Xcode, 6 cores and 8 GB, at $0.90 an hour, billed per minute from prepaid credit. No subscription, no seats and no monthly minimum.
How much does NoMac CI cost?＋
$0.90 an hour, billed per minute, from the Mac's start to its stop with a one-minute minimum, from prepaid credit: $10 buys 11.1 hours and never expires. A Mac that never ran a job is credited back. 7-day money-back guarantee on your first purchase.
How do I switch?＋
Sign in at nomac.app, open CI and press Connect GitHub to install the NoMac CI app on your account or organization, on all repositories or the ones you pick. Then change runs-on: macos-latest to runs-on: nomac in the jobs that should run on NoMac. Steps, actions and secrets stay as they are.
What is on the Mac?＋
macOS 26.6.2, Xcode 27.0, iOS 27.0 Simulator, with Homebrew, CocoaPods, Node, Python and Ruby, on 6 cores and 8 GB of an Apple M4 to M6. Every job gets a fresh VM, deleted when the job ends.
How many jobs run at once?＋
Two per account, up to 6 hours each. More jobs wait in GitHub's queue for a free Mac, and teams that need more at once ask for it.
Does it work with GitLab, Bitbucket or Jenkins?＋
NoMac CI runs GitHub Actions jobs, for personal accounts and organizations, private and public repositories. From another CI system, a job can start a NoMac Mac with the NoMac CLI and run its build there.
A fresh Mac for every job, billed per minute.
Change runs-on to nomac. $0.90 an hour, billed per minute, 2 jobs at once, up to 6 hours each. $10 of credit is 11.1 hours of macOS jobs.
Connect GitHub7-day money-back guarantee on your first purchase.