Shockbyte vs Obsidian Servers: Which is Better in 2025?

Shockbyte is an Australia-based game server hosting company founded in 2013. They're one of the largest Minecraft hosting providers, supporting over 60 different game titles including Minecraft, Rust, ARK, and Terraria.

They've built their reputation on affordability, with plans starting as low as $2.50/month. Shockbyte offers instant server setup, a custom control panel, and basic DDoS protection on all plans.

However, Shockbyte has received mixed reviews in recent years. While many users praise the low prices, common complaints include slow customer support response times (often cited as 5-12 days for ticket responses) and performance inconsistencies on budget plans.

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.

Server performance in Minecraft comes down to single-threaded CPU speed. The game's main tick loop runs on a single core, so clock speed and IPC (instructions per cycle) matter more than core count.

Shockbyte uses a mix of Intel Xeon and AMD EPYC processors. These are enterprise-grade server CPUs designed for reliability and multi-threaded workloads, but they typically have lower single-thread performance compared to desktop gaming CPUs.

Obsidian Servers uses AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D processors with 3D V-Cache technology - currently one of the fastest CPUs for gaming workloads. The extra L3 cache significantly improves Minecraft performance, especially with mods and plugins.

For vanilla servers with a few friends, you probably won't notice a huge difference. But for modded servers, high player counts, or modpacks like ATM10, the hardware gap becomes more noticeable.

Support quality is one of the biggest differentiators between Minecraft hosts, and it's where Shockbyte receives the most criticism.

Shockbyte offers email/ticket support. User reviews frequently mention slow response times - many report waiting 2-5 days for initial responses, with some tickets taking over a week. Some users have also noted receiving generic or AI-generated responses that don't address their specific issues.

Obsidian Servers offers support via both Discord and tickets, with an 8-hour response guarantee on tickets. We're a smaller team, which means you're more likely to get personalized help from someone who actually understands your issue.

If you're comfortable troubleshooting on your own and rarely need support, this might not matter much. But if you're newer to server hosting or running a community server where downtime costs you players, fast support becomes essential.

Both hosts cover the basics: one-click modpack installation, FTP access, DDoS protection, and custom JAR support.

Where Shockbyte has an edge:

• More server locations (9 worldwide vs 2)
• Multi-game support (60+ titles)
• First-month discount promotions

Where Obsidian Servers has an edge:

• Lower per-GB pricing ($2.99 vs $3.99)
• Newer, faster hardware (Ryzen 9 7950X3D, DDR5)
• Longer backup retention (30 days vs 7)
• Unlimited MySQL databases
• Longer money-back guarantee (14 days vs 72 hours)
• Faster support response times