Comparison
MacDuty vs vBoxx
MacDuty and vBoxx on the same Mac mini M6: the price for every configuration they sell, where their certifications win, and where our price and day rate do.
Updated 2026-10-16
vBoxx is the Dutch answer to Mac mini hosting, and the one most often picked by companies that have a compliance officer in the room. They are also, on the M6 line, the most expensive of the serious European hosts. This page puts the two catalogues side by side.
vBoxx is a Dutch company hosting in a Tier III data centre in the Netherlands; MacDuty is AITEST S.R.L., registered and racked in Romania.
The price for the same Mac
vBoxx's prices read from its site on 13 October 2026; ours are the catalog's as it stands today. Monthly, in euro, excluding VAT.
vBoxx sells the M6 in three memory sizes with a 512 GB disk. Matched to ours:
| Mac mini M6 | vBoxx, monthly | MacDuty, monthly | vBoxx, yearly | MacDuty, yearly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 GB, 512 GB | 155 EUR | €138 | 140 EUR | €110 |
| 24 GB, 512 GB | 180 EUR | €149 | 162 EUR | €119 |
| 32 GB, 512 GB | 204 EUR | €159 | 184 EUR | €127 |
What vBoxx asks over us for the same Mac, by the month and by the year, with our day price beside it; their shortest term is a month:
| Mac mini M6 | Gap, monthly | Gap, yearly | MacDuty, one day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 GB, 512 GB | 17 EUR (11%) | 30 EUR (21%) | €15.99 |
| 24 GB, 512 GB | 31 EUR (17%) | 43 EUR (27%) | €16.99 |
| 32 GB, 512 GB | 45 EUR (22%) | 57 EUR (31%) | €18.99 |
On the smallest configuration, 16 GB and 512 GB, the gap is in the first row; multiply the yearly one by twelve for what a year on one machine costs more. The gap widens as the memory goes up.
Neither of us charges a setup fee on a yearly commitment. vBoxx waives theirs from three months; ours is waived at any term, including a single day.
In short
| MacDuty | vBoxx | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware | Dedicated Mac mini | Dedicated Mac mini |
| Chips | M1, M2, M2 Pro, M4, M4 Pro, M5 Pro, M6 | M6 and M5 Pro |
| From | €65 | 155 EUR |
| Billing | Day, month, year | Month, year |
| Shortest term | One day | One month |
| Setup fee | None, at any term | None from three months |
| Port | 1 Gbit/s on every Mac | 10 Gigabit port, 1 Gbit/s unmetered |
| Out-of-band console | No, by choice | Optional JetKVM with virtual media |
| Remote power | Restart from your account; power-cycle by our staff, any hour | From their portal |
| Data centre | Romania | Netherlands, Tier III |
| Certifications | GDPR | ISO 27001, NIS2, GDPR |
| Uptime commitment | 99.9% with a credit if we miss it | A higher core-network figure, see their site |
| Company | AITEST S.R.L., Romania | vBoxx, Netherlands |
Where vBoxx is genuinely better
- They have Macs today. As this page is written, vBoxx lists the M6 as available now and says most Macs are online within a day. Our catalogue shows availability live, and fewer configurations are ready on any given day; for the rest the way in is the notify list. If you need one specific configuration this week, check both catalogues before you decide.
- ISO 27001 and NIS2. We are GDPR-compliant and hosted in the EU, but we do not hold those certifications. If your procurement process asks for them on paper, we will not pass and vBoxx will. This is the single clearest reason to choose them, and it has nothing to do with the Mac.
- A 10 Gigabit port. Ours is 1 Gbit/s on every Mac, the 2026 models included.
- The JetKVM option. Out-of-band console with virtual media, offered as an add-on. We have decided not to offer a console at all; a Mac that stops responding is restarted from your account, and what that does not fix, a person in our data centre does: a power cut at the outlet, a reinstall, or hands on the Mac.
- Years of Mac hosting; we are a new host. If you want a supplier with a long track record on this hardware, theirs is longer.
Where MacDuty is better
- Price, on every M6 they sell. The gap is in the second table above, and it widens as the memory goes up.
- Seven chips instead of two. vBoxx sells the M6 and the M5 Pro. We also rack the M1, M2, M2 Pro, M4 and M4 Pro, from the entry price in the table above. If your workload is a build runner that does not need the newest chip, you are paying vBoxx for a generation you will not use.
- Billing by the day. The day price of every M6 is in the second table; their shortest term is a month. For a few days, a certificate renewal, a migration window or a demo, a month is the wrong unit. The card of every Mac says from which day the month costs less.
- No setup fee at any term, not only from three months.
Moving from vBoxx
A dedicated Mac mini carries nothing proprietary. You have root and SSH, and the migration is your Xcode installation, your keychain and signing certificates, your SPM and CocoaPods caches, and your runner registration.
Three things to check before you move: whether you were relying on the JetKVM console, whether anything in your pipeline needs more than 1 Gbit/s, and whether your compliance paperwork names ISO 27001 or NIS2. If the last one applies, stay where you are.
- Connect to your Mac, SSH and screen sharing on the first day
- Self-hosted GitHub Actions runner on a Mac mini, if the runner registration is what moves
In stock today
These are in the rack now. Pick one, see what it comes with, and make your account only when you order.
Checking the racks
A Mac mini of your own
Pick a build. When one is not on the shelf, leave your email and we write the day it is racked.
Questions
- Is MacDuty cheaper than vBoxx?
- On every M6 they sell, monthly and yearly; the gap per configuration is in the second table above, and it grows with the memory. Prices exclude VAT on both sides, theirs read on the day the note under the first table says.
- Can I get a Mac from MacDuty today?
- Sometimes. The catalogue marks which configurations are ready today; a build in stock is charged at checkout, a pre-order of a Mac Apple has not shipped yet is charged only once it is racked. For the rest the way in is the notify list. vBoxx lists stock now.
- Is MacDuty ISO 27001 certified?
- No. We are hosted in the EU and GDPR-compliant, but we do not hold ISO 27001 or NIS2. vBoxx does.
- Who has the faster network?
- They do: a 10 Gigabit port against our 1 Gbit/s on every Mac.
- Can I rent a Mac mini for a week?
- With us, yes, we bill by the day. vBoxx starts at a month.
Next