If your AI agents or CI pipelines need to run iOS apps, they need Apple hardware. Argent Cloud gives you iOS simulators on dedicated Macs for a flat monthly price.
Looking for a more predictable alternative to GitHub’s macOS runners for iOS testing? Here’s how Argent Cloud and GitHub runners compare.
Disclosure: Argent Cloud is built by Software Mansion. Prices are based on the public pricing pages linked in this comparison.
Per runner · up to 6 parallel simulators
1 runner busy around the clock costs $2,678
GitHub’s standard macOS runners cost $0.062 per minute, or $3.72 per hour. Running one continuously for a month would cost around $2,678. Argent Cloud costs $299 per runner per month and supports up to six iOS simulators.
The cheaper option depends on usage. GitHub’s pay-as-you-go pricing can work out better if you run fewer than about 80 simulator-hours per month. Above that, Argent Cloud’s flat monthly price can save money, especially if you run tests frequently.
Sources: Argent Cloud pricing · GitHub Actions runner pricing
Prices checked October 16, 2026. Taxes are excluded. GitHub cost uses the standard macOS runner at list price, without free minutes. Free minutes in your GitHub plan can raise the break-even point to about 160 hours on Enterprise.
| Feature | Argent Cloud | GitHub macOS runners |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | AI agents and CI that need iOS simulators | Building and testing iOS apps inside GitHub Actions workflows |
| iOS simulators | Up to 6 per runner; 4 performed best in Argent’s benchmarks | Available inside macOS runner jobs |
| Pricing | $299 per runner/month | $0.062 per minute on the standard runner; $0.077–$0.102 on larger runners |
| Testing minutes | Unlimited | Billed per minute; 2,000–50,000 included minutes a month depending on plan |
| Hardware | Dedicated Apple hardware for your runner | A fresh GitHub-hosted VM for each job |
| AI agent access | Open-source Argent toolkit and MCP integration | Simulators run inside workflow jobs |
| Testing frameworks | Appium, Maestro, Argent E2E | Any tool you install in the job |
| Local development | Two-way port tunnels for local development servers | Not included |
| Physical iPhones and iPads | Not included | Not included |
| Android | Not currently offered | Android builds on hosted runners |
| Desktop browsers | Not included | Browsers preinstalled on hosted runner images |
| Getting started | Self-serve for up to 5 runners; connection details within 2 business days | Built into GitHub Actions; included minutes on every plan |
AI agents can run tests, retry failures, and leave simulator sessions running for hours. With Argent Cloud, it’s a flat $299 per runner each month, whether you run a handful of tests or keep your simulators busy all day.
Each runner uses Apple hardware reserved for your workload. Your simulators aren’t sharing a host with other customers, helping keep the environment predictable.
Argent Cloud supports port tunnels that connect remote simulators to local development servers, including Metro. That means you can keep using your existing development workflow, including hot reload.
The sim-remote simctl command works as a drop-in for nearly all xcrun simctl commands, and it uploads local files such as app bundles for you.
Argent Cloud lets AI agents connect to remote iOS simulators over the network. The open-source Argent toolkit provides one way to control and inspect apps, while existing testing tools such as Appium and Maestro can also be used.
Argent Cloud focuses on iOS simulators, so it may not replace every part of your CI setup.
You can use both: build your app on a GitHub macOS runner, then move longer simulator tests to Argent Cloud for a fixed monthly price.
Below about 80 simulator-hours a month, GitHub’s per-minute billing may costs less.
GitHub macOS runners can build your app with Xcode in the same job. Argent Cloud doesn’t offer cloud builds yet.
“When we started experimenting with cloud-based agents, we ran into a practical problem: iOS simulators run on Apple hardware, while many cloud agents run on Linux.
Our agents could write code, but they needed a way to launch the app and check whether it worked. Existing options didn’t fit our needs, so we built Argent Cloud.”
We are Software Mansion, a software development company for mobile apps, web, and AI. We help our clients build software from MVP to production, from native iOS and Android to cross-platform apps, open-source projects, and developer tools.
Argent Cloud works with Argent, our open-source toolkit for controlling, debugging, and profiling mobile apps. You can also connect existing testing tools such as Appium and Maestro.
Try Argent Cloud to run up to six iOS simulators on dedicated Apple hardware for $299 a month.
Argent Cloud by Software Mansion. GitHub is a trademark of its respective owner. Competitor pricing and feature details checked October 16, 2026.