Shockbyte review

The Terms restrict world pre-generation

Shockbyte's Terms of Service (last updated 28 August 2026) set three storage rules that bear on large worlds, and a buyer should read them before ordering.

• "Any world pre-generation must not exceed a radius of 10K." The Terms add that pre-generation plugins "that do not have a configuration option to limit the maximum radius are blocked".
• "World files above 5GB must not include pre-generated chunks. Chunks should be generated through gameplay." Exceeding the Fair Use Policy "may result in the infringing files being removed".
• A maximum of 3 backups per service, with all backups under an account not exceeding 15 GB. Dynmap tiles above 10 GB are deleted, and CoreProtect databases should stay under 15 GB.

The Acceptable Use Policy (19 September 2025) adds that backups may not be stored inside the server files. A host that runs a modpack with a large pre-generated world, or a map plugin, should check these limits first.

Two price lines, and the discount is labelled "recurring"

Shockbyte's Minecraft page (USD, 8 Nov 2026) shows a list price struck out and a "30% OFF RECURRING" price beside it.

Source: Shockbyte Minecraft page, 8 Nov 2026. The page also lists 2, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 10 GB plans and a custom plan at 17 GB and up from $47.48. Its billing toggle shows "Quarterly -10% OFF" and "Annually -50% Off!!!", and those totals were not captured.

The budget line lists 1 GB at $1.99, 2 GB at $3.99, 3 GB at $5.99, 6 GB at $11.99 and 8 GB at $15.99, with an annual toggle of "-25% OFF". The 8 GB budget plan is therefore $6.40 below the discounted 8 GB main plan ($22.39 minus $15.99). The pages read do not say what hardware the budget line uses, only "reliable, cost-efficient hardware".

The word "recurring" suggests the 30% continues. The Terms read do not address discount duration, and the pages give no renewal price separate from the one shown, so confirm the renewal amount at checkout. Other games are priced on their own pages. The games catalog shows "Starting at $ ..." on every tile, but the per-game pages carry prices in their plan data: Palworld starts at $16.99 a month and Valheim at $9.99 on monthly billing, read 8 Nov 2026. The cheapest-hosts comparison is in the cheapest game server hosting guide.

What Shockbyte says about CPU, storage and DDoS protection

Shockbyte's hardware page says "Up to AMD EPYC 4465P @ Max 5.40 GHz" and "NVMe SSD, 6x faster than SATA SSD". The data embedded in that page lists a CPU per location, which makes the answer depend on where you host:

These are Shockbyte's figures, they are maximum clocks, and the page also carries an unlabelled "single thread score" per location without naming the benchmark. Neither the main nor the budget plan page says which line runs on which machine.

On DDoS protection, Shockbyte says "always on and always free". Its SLA is narrower: "We provide DDoS mitigation on a best-effort basis", with a service credit only if an attack is not mitigated within 5 consecutive minutes and causes downtime. No capacity figure is given. The plan page banner says "99.9% Uptime", while the SLA states targets of 99.99% for network and 99.95% for hardware.

The refund: 72 hours from the order, once per client

The Terms say Shockbyte "can provide a refund within the first 72 hours of ordering a new service". The conditions that follow decide whether you get it.

• The clock is "counted from the time of order to the time the cancellation is submitted".
• Once only: "Each client is only eligible to claim our 72 Hour Refund Policy once", and creating several accounts to repeat it is denied.
• A dispute voids it: "Opening a dispute on any of your payments will void eligibility", and Shockbyte may suspend the client's services.
• Replies in 48 hours: failing to answer a Shockbyte message within 48 hours loses eligibility, unless you are still inside the first 72 hours.
• Renewals are excluded: "A payment made for the renewal of a service cannot be refunded."
• Other voids: a fulfilled Server Management request voids it, and account credit is "non-refundable and non-withdrawable".
• After 72 hours, refunds are "solely at our discretion". Refunds may be paid as credit when the payment method cannot refund.

Cancellation is a request submitted in the client area, and PayPal subscriptions must be cancelled separately by the customer. The plan pages call this a "72hr Self-Serve Refund", and the FAQ calls it a "3-day money back guarantee".

What the Terms and AUP say about heavy use, bots and testing

Shockbyte's documents contain no benchmarking clause and no clause about bots or player simulation, and that silence is not permission. The relevant language:

• "Services provided by us are not explicitly limited by bandwidth, CPU or disk space; however, we have some restrictions." Excessive bandwidth or CPU "for prolonged periods" brings email warnings and, if ignored, possible suspension.
• The AUP bans "denial-of-service (DoS) or distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, port scanning, or intrusive testing of networks or systems", penetration or vulnerability scanning without written consent, and anything that "interferes with, degrades, or negatively impacts" infrastructure or other customers.
• "Generally, any violation of these terms may result in account suspension, termination or closure without refund", and Shockbyte may cancel any service "with or without a refund or notice or warning for any reason".

What Godlike's published comparison shows, with its limits

Godlike, which sells Minecraft hosting and is the opposing party, published a comparison with Shockbyte on 23 May 2026. For one 8 GB Shockbyte plan it reports TPS of 7.88 / 8.72 / 8.08 (5 s / 10 s / 1 min) under a 4-bot exploration load and a Chunky run of 16,129 chunks in 6:31, against 14.33 / 18.64 / 15.87 and 2:43 for Godlike's own plan. It names the Shockbyte CPU as an EPYC 4244P and records both first-month prices as $22.39.

That was one plan, one run, Minecraft 1.21.1 on NeoForge, bots leaving spawn for 5 minutes, with world seeds not standardised. The article does not state the location or the number of runs. Shockbyte's own hardware page lists the 4244P only for the UK, France, Poland and India, so a plan elsewhere would sit on other hardware. These figures say nothing general about Shockbyte.

Honest downsides

• The 10K and 5 GB pre-generation rules, and the backup caps, are tight for big maps.
• A 72-hour, once-per-client refund counted from the order, with several ways to lose it.
• The "30% OFF RECURRING" label is not backed by any renewal price in the pages read.
• Prices for other games were not readable.
• DDoS mitigation is "best-effort" in the SLA, against "always on" on the hardware page.
• The only third-party benchmark found is from a competitor and covers one plan.

What the planned protocol would check on Shockbyte

The planned protocol would, only after written permission and with a paid plan, log which CPU a chosen location reports, tick time under a defined load, and whether the 10K cap or the 5 GB rule blocks a typical pre-generated world. The test rig page describes the intended setup. Nothing has been bought, and the AUP's bans on "intrusive testing" mean permission is unresolved.

Next decision: compare Shockbyte head to head in Apex Hosting vs Shockbyte, BisectHosting vs Shockbyte or ScalaCube vs Shockbyte. For a heavy pack see the ATM10 and Cobblemon pages, and check distance with latency by region. The full list is on the hosts hub.