Rigs vs MacStadium
MacStadium rents you real Mac hardware — excellent for iOS build farms that need bare metal. Rigs sells governed desktop sessions across macOS, Windows, and Linux, with the Mac fleet abstracted behind the same API as everything else.
Dimension by dimension.
Checks mark the stronger side; dashes mark a genuine tie.
| Dimension | Rigs | MacStadium |
|---|---|---|
| OS coverage | macOS sessions alongside Windows and Linux in one fleet | macOS only — that is the entire product |
| Agent control surfaces | MCP server and agent invoke API with per-instance permissions | Orka has an API and CLI for VM orchestration; no agent-native tooling |
| Provisioning speed | Desktop sessions on demand; no host reservation required | Orka VMs spin up quickly, but capacity is bound to your leased hosts |
| Governance model | Keystone tenant scoping, scoped tokens, short-lived session credentials | Account-level access to your dedicated environment; you build the policy layer |
| Pricing model | Per-minute macOS sessions — pay only while the rig runs | Monthly subscriptions per dedicated Mac host, regardless of utilization |
| Bare-metal Mac control | Sessions, not hardware — you never see the host | Real, dedicated Apple hardware; full control for kernel work and device testing |
When to choose which.
MacStadium is a serious product. Here is where it genuinely beats us — and where Rigs is the obvious call.
Choose MacStadium when…
- You need dedicated Apple hardware under your control — kernel extensions, device farms, strict build isolation on metal.
- Your iOS CI saturates Macs around the clock, making monthly host leases cheaper than per-minute sessions.
- You already run Orka and have invested in its Kubernetes-style workflows.
Choose Rigs when…
- You need macOS occasionally or elastically — sessions per minute beat a host lease you must keep busy.
- macOS is one OS in a mixed fleet, and you want one governance model across all three.
- Agents or automation drive the desktops and need MCP/SDK control surfaces.
If you decide to move.
A migration is a mapping exercise, not a rewrite. The three moves that matter:
- 01
Replace per-host capacity math with concurrency limits per Keystone tenant.
- 02
Re-point Orka CLI scripts at the Rigs REST API; rigs_create with the macOS image replaces VM templates.
- 03
Keep MacStadium for sustained bare-metal CI if utilization stays above ~60% — run burst capacity on Rigs.
Your fleet is one provision call away.
Open the console and spin a governed desktop in seconds — or talk to us about running your whole fleet on Rigs.
npx @l1fe/rigs-mcp — for the agents in the room