PebbleHost vs Obsidian Servers: Which Premium Host is Better?

PebbleHost is a UK-based game server hosting company that's become popular in the Minecraft community for offering good performance at competitive prices. They offer three tiers: Budget ($1/GB), Premium (~$2.25/GB), and Extreme ($6.25/GB with dedicated threads).

Their Premium tier uses Ryzen 7900 processors with DDR5 memory and NVMe storage. They're known for fast Discord-based support with response times often under 30 minutes, and they consistently rank well in Reddit polls for value.

PebbleHost has servers in North America, Europe, Australia, Singapore, and India - more locations than most competitors. Their main drawbacks are a dated control panel UI and the 72-hour refund window being shorter than some alternatives.

Obsidian Servers is a Minecraft-focused hosting provider built on premium hardware. We run AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D processors and DDR5 ECC memory - the same specs you'd find in high-end gaming PCs - specifically optimized for Minecraft's single-threaded performance needs.

We're a smaller operation compared to the big names, which means we can offer more personalized support. We guarantee ticket responses within 8 hours, and you can see our live average response time on our stats page. Every plan comes with a 14-day money-back guarantee.

Both hosts use modern AMD Ryzen processors, but there's a meaningful difference in single-threaded performance - which is what matters most for Minecraft.

PebbleHost Premium uses Ryzen 7900 processors clocked at up to 5.4GHz. This is solid desktop-class hardware that handles most Minecraft workloads well. Their newer nodes may use Ryzen 9900X at 5.6GHz.

Obsidian Servers uses the Ryzen 9 7950X3D with 3D V-Cache technology. The extra 64MB of L3 cache provides a significant performance boost for gaming workloads - benchmarks show 10-15% better single-threaded performance in cache-heavy applications like Minecraft.

For vanilla or lightly modded servers, both will perform well. For heavy modpacks like ATM10 or high player counts (50+), the 7950X3D's extra cache makes a noticeable difference in TPS stability.

Both hosts offer responsive support, but through different channels.

PebbleHost provides 24/7 support primarily through Discord. Response times are typically under 30 minutes, and their community Discord is active with helpful staff. However, Discord support can feel less formal, and complex billing issues still require tickets which may take longer.

Obsidian Servers offers support via both Discord and tickets, with an 8-hour response guarantee on tickets. You get the best of both worlds - quick Discord help for simple questions, plus a ticket system that creates a paper trail for complex technical issues.

Both hosts offer Discord support, but Obsidian also provides guaranteed ticket response times for when you need formal support with documentation.

Both hosts offer modern features for Minecraft hosting: one-click modpack installation, FTP access, DDoS protection, and custom JAR support.

Where PebbleHost has an edge:

• Lower per-GB pricing (~$2.25 vs $2.99)
• More server locations (5 worldwide including Asia/Australia)
• Faster informal support via Discord
• Budget tier option at $1/GB for smaller servers

Where Obsidian Servers has an edge:

• Faster CPU with 3D V-Cache (Ryzen 9 7950X3D)
• Longer backup retention (30 days vs daily)
• Unlimited MySQL databases included
• Much longer money-back guarantee (14 days vs 72 hours)
• ECC memory for better data integrity