Why macOS CI minutes cost 10×

On GitHub-hosted runners a Linux minute is $0.008. A macOS minute is $0.08 to $0.16, roughly 10x to 20x. That multiplier isn't arbitrary; it's Apple's licensing plus the economics of dedicated Mac hardware. But it means macOS CI is the one line item where a flat, dedicated box flips the math fast.

Where the 10× comes from

• Apple's license. macOS may only run on Apple hardware, and the SLA governs how you lease it. You can't oversubscribe a Mac the way clouds pack Linux VMs.
• Hardware, not vCPUs. A macOS runner is a real Mac. Providers amortize the box, the rack, and the power across your minutes.
• Cold everything. Hosted runners spin up fresh, so every run re-downloads Pods, SwiftPM, DerivedData. You pay minutes to rebuild caches you already had.

The break-even

At $0.08/min, a flat $119/mo box breaks even at about 1,488 minutes per month, which is a few pull requests a day with a real iOS build. Past that, every additional minute is free instead of metered:

3,000 min/mo   metered $240 to $480    flat $119
6,000 min/mo   metered $480 to $960    flat $119

Run the exact number on your own usage with the calculator.

When metered still wins

If you run a few hundred macOS minutes a month, stay hosted. Flat pricing only wins once you're steady. We say so plainly on the comparison page.