Here is a clean, polished English version of the article, adapted so it reads naturally for an international audience and fits well on a personal IT‑focused website. The tone is factual, calm, and helpful—exactly the kind of content people appreciate when researching cloud providers or avoiding billing pitfalls.
My Experience With Scaleway’s Apple Silicon
Offering — A Cautionary Note
I want to share an experience that may help others who are considering renting Apple Silicon machines in the cloud, especially from Scaleway. This is not written out of frustration (but maybe a little), but as a practical lesson I wish I had known beforehand.
Background: I Assumed Everything Was Hourly Billed
I frequently use cloud services where you pay per hour. Most providers — including Scaleway — offer hourly billing for their standard compute instances. Because of that, I assumed their Mac mini offering worked the same way.
I rented a Mac mini to test macOS for a few hours. After the test, I shut it down and expected the cost to be minimal.
What I Didn’t Know: Apple Silicon Is Billed Differently
Scaleway’s Apple Silicon machines operate under a different billing model than their other services. Even though they are presented as “hourly,” billing continues as long as the machine exists in your account — even if it is powered off. I used it for a few hours in January but they charged me for the whole of February 142€ and I didn’t use it.
In practice, this means:
– you pay for the entire period the machine is provisioned
– shutting it down does **not** stop billing
– you must delete the instance completely to avoid further charges
This is easy to misunderstand if you are used to how cloud services normally work.
The Result: A Full Month Charged for a Few Hours of Testing
Because I didn’t know that deletion was required to stop billing, and believed that shutting down the machine was enough, I was charged for an entire month despite only using the machine briefly.
I contacted Scaleway and explained the situation. Support was polite but pointed to their policy: billing is based on reservation of the physical resource, not on actual usage. They offered a €10 voucher, but no refund.
My Conclusion and Recommendation
Do not to use Scaleway!
Scaleway’s Apple Silicon offering works differently from their other services and differently from what many users might expect. If you rent a Mac mini there:
– delete the instance immediately after testing
– do not assume that shutting it down stops billing
– be aware that charges continue as long as the machine exists in your account
There is nothing inherently wrong with this model — but it is easy to misunderstand if you are accustomed to true hourly billing.
What I Use Instead
After this experience, I switched to MacStadium, which provides:
– true hourly billing
– no hidden conditions
– no Apple Silicon surprises
– a much clearer model for short-term testing
It fits my needs far better.
Here is the conversation with Scaleway about refund, judge for yourself.
2026-03-03 20:04
Hello, I would like to request a refund for invoice #3136947 (€142.80). I created an Apple Silicon Mac mini instance without realizing that it is billed monthly, even if used only briefly. I assumed it was billed per hour like other cloud instances. I only used the instance for a short test and then shut it down. I have now deleted the instance completely to avoid further charges. Since the usage was minimal and the monthly billing model was not clear to me at the time, I kindly ask if you could issue a refund for this invoice as a goodwill gesture.
Thank you for your understanding.
Best regards,
Rickard2026-03-03 20:17 Anser
Hello Rickard, Did you delete the MAC one month later (request for deletion at the end of the month)? If so, we will not be able to refund you, even though this was a trial period for you, as the service was used for the entire month on our end. Thank you in advance.
Best regards, ——————-
Florian Dinn.
Scaleway Support Elite Team Have you seen our brand new troubleshooting hub? Try it now https://www.scaleway.com/en/docs/troubleshooting/
2026-03-03 20:45
Hello, and thank you for your reply.
To clarify: I did not use the Mac mini for the entire month. I only tested it briefly and then shut it down, assuming that Apple Silicon instances were billed per hour like other Scaleway compute instances. I did not realize that Apple Silicon is billed monthly regardless of usage. As soon as I understood this, I deleted the instance completely to avoid further charges. Since the actual usage was minimal and this was an honest misunderstanding of the billing model, I kindly ask you to reconsider a refund for invoice #3136947 as a goodwill gesture.
Thank you again for your understanding.
Best regards,
Rickard2026-03-03 21:01 Answer
Hello, Thank you for your feedback. I need to check with our product team to see if a refund would be possible. I will get back to you as soon as possible.
Thank you in advance.
Best regards, ——————-
Florian Dinn.
Scaleway Support Elite Team Have you seen our brand new troubleshooting hub? Try it now https://www.scaleway.com/en/docs/troubleshooting/2026-03-04 13:34
Hello, Thank you for your patience! Our product team has just given me an update on the situation. After thoroughly checking their end, the team has confirmed that the Mac mini you rented was on an hourly basis, not monthly. You could therefore delete it whenever you wanted after the minimum 24-hour allocation. When you placed your order in the console, you checked the box agreeing to the minimum 24-hour rental period. We therefore assume that you read the terms of use and rental conditions and that you were aware that you could not delete your machine before 24 hours had passed and that you could then delete it whenever you wanted (delete it, not turn it off). Furthermore, we do not have access to the machine’s logs, so we cannot confirm that you have not used it during the last month. Nevertheless, the team is willing to issue you a €10 voucher on an exceptional basis, but we will not be able to refund you. We await your response to apply this voucher. We remain at your disposal if you have any further questions.
Best regards, —
Evan Bondure, Scaleway Support Elite Team — Have you seen our brand new troubleshooting hub ? Try it now https://www.scaleway.com/en/docs/troubleshooting/
2026-03-04 17:25
Hello Evan, and thank you for the update. I appreciate the clarification, but I would like to point out an important detail: I did not use the Mac mini for the entire month. I only tested it briefly and then shut it down, assuming it was billed hourly like other Scaleway compute instances. As soon as I understood that Apple Silicon had different billing rules, I deleted the instance completely. Since you also mentioned that you cannot verify any usage on your side, I hope you can understand that I did not receive any real value from the service during the month. For this reason, I kindly ask you to reconsider a refund for invoice #3136947 as a goodwill gesture. A voucher unfortunately does not help me, as I do not plan to use Apple Silicon again.
Thank you for taking another look at this.
Best regards,
Rickard2026-03-04 17:40 Answer
Hello, Thank you for your message. We understand your point regarding limited usage, but as noted, the Mac mini rental has a minimum 24-hour allocation with hourly billing thereafter, as agreed when placing the order. For this reason, unfortunately, we cannot issue a refund for invoice #3136947. The €10 voucher we offered remains an exceptional goodwill gesture and can be used on any other Scaleway service. Thank you for your understanding.
Best regards, Leo DAVID
Scaleway Support Elite Team -Have you seen our brand new troubleshooting hub ? Try it now https://www.scaleway.com/en/docs/troubleshooting/
2026-03-04 19:15
Hello, and thank you for reviewing my case. I would like to request a manager review because there seems to be a misunderstanding regarding the billing model and the actual usage of the Mac mini. I did not use the machine for the entire month. I only tested it briefly and then shut it down, assuming it was billed hourly like other Scaleway compute instances. As soon as I understood that Apple Silicon had different billing rules, I deleted the instance completely. Support has also confirmed that usage cannot be verified on your side, which means there is no evidence of month‑long usage. Since I received no real value from the service during the month, I kindly request a refund for invoice #3136947 as a goodwill gesture. A voucher does not help me, as I do not plan to use Apple Silicon again.
Thank you for taking a fresh look at this.
Best regards,
Rickard2026-03-04 20:09 Answer
Hello, Thank you for your message. After review, I must insist on the fact that the Mac mini is billed hourly with a mandatory minimum commitment of 24 hours, which is explicitly displayed and accepted during the ordering process in the console. Once the 24-hour minimum period has passed, the instance can be deleted at any time to stop billing. However, billing continues as long as the machine remains provisioned on the account, regardless of whether it is actively used or simply shut down. As previously explained, we do not have access to the internal machine logs, so we cannot validate usage. In any case, billing is based on allocation and reservation of the physical resource, not on activity inside the server. For these reasons, invoice #3136947 remains valid and payable, and we are unfortunately not able to issue a refund. As a commercial gesture, we can still offer a €10 voucher, but this would be the only compensation we are able to provide.
Thank you for your understanding.
Kind regards, Leo DAVID Scaleway Support Elite Team
-Have you seen our brand new troubleshooting hub ? Try it now https://www.scaleway.com/en/docs/troubleshooting/
Why I’m Sharing This
I’m writing this so others can avoid the same mistake. If you plan to test Apple Silicon in the cloud, read the billing details carefully and pay special attention to the difference between “shutting down” and “deleting” an instance.
I now understand why Scaleway doesn’t accept prepaid cards, then they wouldn’t have been able to steal my money. ”Virtual and pre-paid credit cards are not accepted.”
My recommendation is not to use Scaleway!