Frequently asked
Rent a dedicated physical Mac mini by the day. Browse answers about billing, payments, locations, usage and data. For your order, expiry date or payment status, rely on the details shown in the console.
Daily rental from $21.7. Check the model, location, term and add-ons before paying.
Choose your rental term
Daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly rates are separate listed prices—not the daily rate multiplied by the number of days. Check the checkout page for your order’s start and end dates and total due.
What’s the minimum rental term? Is it suitable for a one-off task?
The minimum rental term is 1 day. Keep M4 S costs $21.7 per day and comes with an M4, 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage. It’s suited to a project build with a clear deadline, short-term regression testing or a temporary macOS task.
Prepare your source code, dependencies, certificates and output directory before you rent. If your task may span multiple billing terms, compare weekly and monthly rates in advance. Don’t wait until expiry to back up your data or renew.
How are weekly, monthly and quarterly rentals priced?
You’re charged the listed price for the term you choose. The table below shows base rental prices for three models in USD, excluding any add-ons you select.
| Model | Daily | Weekly | Monthly | Quarterly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keep M4 S | $21.7 | $58.7 | $108.7 | $295.7 |
| Keep M4 L | $39.1 | $105.5 | $195.3 | $531.2 |
| Keep M4 Pro | $60.4 | $163 | $301.9 | $821.2 |
Check the start and end dates for your selected term when placing an order. If you add storage or Thunderbolt 5 daisy-chaining, check the add-on term and price too.See an itemised bill example, which separates the model price from add-ons.
Does my rental renew automatically at expiry?
Saved payment details don’t mean a renewal has been scheduled. Check the console to see whether automatic renewal is enabled, a renewal invoice has been issued and payment has succeeded. This FAQ can’t confirm the renewal status of a specific order.
For uninterrupted use, sign in to the console before expiry and check your instance’s end date, available terms and renewal total. After paying, confirm the renewal status. A payment receipt alone doesn’t confirm that your order has been renewed.
How do I pay the difference if I upgrade the model or add storage mid-term?
First, check the available change options for your order in the console. Any node reassignment, data migration, proration or price difference must be confirmed on the checkout page or in a support ticket. Don’t calculate the difference from daily rates and pay on your own.
Before requesting a change, provide your current model, desired configuration, expected rental period and data migration needs. The base model SSD and an SSD add-on are separate items. Back up essential files outside the machine before any disk or location changes.
Check the invoice and payment status
We accept USDT-TRC20 and Visa / Mastercard / Amex (via Stripe). All prices and charges are in US dollars (USD). Available payment gateways are determined by the response from the backend.
Which payment methods can I use?
Two options are available: USDT-TRC20, or Visa / Mastercard / Amex cards processed through Stripe. Prices and charges are in USD; the site doesn’t provide conversions to other currencies.
For USDT, check the network, receiving address and amount due shown by the payment gateway. For card payments, complete the verification steps on the gateway page. Use only the payment details shown for your current order—never reuse details from another order.
How long does a USDT transfer take to be confirmed?
A transfer shown in your wallet and a payment confirmed on your order are separate statuses. Confirmation time depends on on-chain confirmations and payment gateway processing. We can’t guarantee a set number of minutes; check the payment page and console for the latest status.
If your wallet shows a transaction but the order is still pending, check the network, address, amount and transaction hash. Don’t send another transfer just because the page is still waiting. To investigate, open a console ticket with your order number, transaction hash, transfer amount and time.
Why can’t I connect to the machine after paying?
Payment confirmation, order processing and instance setup are separate steps. First check that your invoice shows payment confirmed, then check whether the instance has been delivered. Don’t try to connect using a sample hostname or credentials from another order.
If the console shows an error or the status hasn’t changed for a while, submit your order number, selected location, payment receipt and a screenshot of the status. Hide full card details and connection passwords in screenshots; support staff don’t need your complete payment card information.
How do I find a receipt or ask about an invoice?
Look up the order and payment record in the console first. For card payments, keep the Stripe receipt number. For USDT-TRC20 payments, keep the transaction hash with your order number.
To request a specific billing name or purpose, or to check which billing documents are available, contact us through a console ticket or at support@vpskeep.com. Include your order number and the required details. Confirm the available document format and scope first; invoice types aren’t guaranteed for any particular region.
Choose for your workflow, not just the map
There are 4 locations: Singapore, Japan (Tokyo), South Korea (Seoul) and Hong Kong. All three models are available in all four locations, subject to live availability in the console.
How do I choose from the four locations?
Start with the locations of your team, code repositories and asset storage. If you frequently use the macOS GUI, prioritise the network route from your location. For automated builds, also consider routes for downloading dependencies and uploading build artifacts.
- Singapore: A location to consider for workflows serving Southeast Asia.
- Japan (Tokyo): A location to consider for workflows serving Japan.
- South Korea (Seoul): A location to consider for workflows serving South Korea.
- Hong Kong: A location to consider for workflows serving Hong Kong and nearby areas.
A nearby location doesn’t guarantee a specific latency. Carrier routing, network congestion and local connectivity all affect performance, so we don’t promise untested latency figures.
Can I change locations after renting?
A location is where the machine is physically hosted, so changing locations isn’t just a display-name change. Check the console for an option to change locations. If there isn’t one, open a support ticket to confirm reassignment, order handling and data migration.
Don’t assume your data will be copied automatically from the original location. Back up your projects, certificates, configuration and build artifacts, and note which parts of the environment need to be set up again. Once the new instance is ready, use its displayed address and credentials to test your connection and tasks.
Are network speed or latency guaranteed?
We don’t publish unverified bandwidth, cross-border speed or latency figures. SSH sessions, screen sharing, dependency downloads and asset uploads have different network needs, and performance can vary across access networks even at the same location.
If you run into issues, note your access network, selected location, time, connection method and error message. If only one dependency source is slow, say whether other connections are working too. This helps distinguish between a local network, the target service and the instance connection.
Are the locations available year-round?
All locations operate year-round, 365 days a year. For automated tasks, prepare retry handling, log retention and backups outside the machine. Don’t keep the only copy of a task’s output on the local disk.
Check the console for instance connectivity, setup progress and the status of any issue. If you spot a problem, open a ticket for the relevant order—this helps us investigate more effectively than a location name alone.
Dedicated machine, ready for your workload
This is a cloud Mac on a dedicated physical machine, not a virtual machine. The macOS GUI and command line are available; check software versions, dependencies and project settings individually.
Is the entire physical Mac mini dedicated to me?
Yes. You rent an entire Apple Silicon physical Mac mini. Its compute resources aren’t shared with other renters, and it isn’t a virtualised macOS instance.
The three configurations are Keep M4 S (M4 / 16GB / 256GB), Keep M4 L (M4 / 24GB / 512GB) and Keep M4 Pro (M4 Pro / 64GB / 2TB). Choose based on your project’s memory use, parallel workload and storage needs. A dedicated machine doesn’t mean every workload will finish in the same amount of time.
Do I get administrator access? Can I install my own tools?
Check the instance details and delivery information in the console for the account provided, administrator access and permitted actions. If your task requires administrator privileges, system extensions or specific security settings, describe your requirements before renting so you can confirm whether they’re supported.
Install tools from trusted sources and keep a record of their versions. Before changing firewall, network or system permissions, make sure you won’t lose your existing connection; don’t disable the service you’re using to connect. Find setup and connection steps in theGetting Started Guide.
Can I install multiple versions of Xcode?
You can install multiple Xcode versions as needed, but first check that each version is compatible with your macOS and that you have enough disk space. Xcode, simulator runtimes, dependency caches and build outputs all use storage.
For automated tasks, specify the developer tools path explicitly. Before running, check xcodebuild -version and xcode-select -p. Don’t rely only on the version shown in the GUI. Set up certificates and provisioning profiles as required by your project, and remove any sensitive materials you no longer need before your rental ends.
Can I run MLX? Which configuration should I choose?
You can install MLX on Apple Silicon and configure Python and related dependencies as required by your model. If you need more unified memory, consider Keep M4 Pro with M4 Pro / 64GB / 2TB.
You can’t determine whether a model will run from its parameter count alone. Memory requirements also depend on quantisation, context length, cache, concurrency and system usage. Test loading and inference with a small sample before scaling up. We don’t guarantee a specific generation speed or maximum context length for any model.
What uses are prohibited?
You may not use the service for bulk unsolicited email, cryptocurrency mining, attacks or any purpose that violates Apple’s software licence. A dedicated physical machine is still subject to usage rules; you must have the appropriate authorisation for all installed software, tasks and data.
For specialised network services, sustained high loads or unclear use cases, describe your task and resource requirements first. Don’t modify the system to bypass restrictions. Read theTerms of Servicefor the applicable terms.
Take your files with you before your rental ends
Don’t rely on the instance’s local disk as your only storage. Before renewing, migrating or ending your rental, verify that your external backup works.
How long is data retained after expiry?
We don’t guarantee a standard data retention period after expiry. Check the data handling details for your order before it expires. If they aren’t shown, confirm them through a console ticket. Don’t treat any possible processing interval as extra time to use or recover your data.
Export any source code, assets, build artifacts, certificates and configuration you need while your rental is active. If it has already expired, provide your order number and the files you want us to check, and ask about their current status. Don’t assume renewal will restore your original data.
How can I clean up data and credentials before my rental ends?
Back up first, then clean up. Follow these three steps to avoid deleting the only copy of files you haven’t exported yet.
- Verify your exports.Copy projects, assets and output files off the machine. Open a sample of the files to check they work, and confirm that versions and directory structures are complete.
- Revoke access.Revoke any CI registrations, access tokens and SSH authorisations you no longer use in the relevant services. Then remove sensitive configuration and certificates from the machine.
- Clean up tasks.Stop startup tasks and background processes, delete projects, caches and local credentials you no longer need, then confirm the rental has ended.
Don’t run disk-wide operations that could damage the system or cut off your connection. If you have specific data erasure requirements, describe the file types and requested handling in a support ticket before your rental ends.
Are snapshots or automatic backups included?
Don’t assume that renting a physical machine includes snapshots or automatic backups. Check the console or confirm in a support ticket whether specific backup features are available, what can be restored and how long backups are kept. Don’t rely on an unconfirmed feature to protect your workflow.
Arrange backups outside the machine and test a restore. An SSD add-on expands working storage; it isn’t a separate backup. After uploading build artifacts, check the remote file size and integrity before deleting the local copy.
Do I need to send a password or source code when I report an issue?
Start with the minimum necessary information: your order number, location, time, steps to reproduce and redacted error logs. Don’t send connection passwords, private keys, access tokens or full payment card details by email or in an unredacted screenshot.
For project-related issues, share steps to reproduce and logs that don’t contain business secrets. See ourPrivacy Policyfor details on what data we collect and how we handle it. If you need further help, confirm in your support ticket what information to provide.
Talk to our support team
Before renting, tell us what you’ll use the machine for, how long you expect to need it and your configuration requirements. For an existing order, include the order number, location and time the issue occurred. Our support email is support@vpskeep.com; for technical and billing questions, submit a ticket through the console.