Reviews
Does Nitrous Networks have Better Minecraft Hosting than Shockbyte?
We Put both services to the test. Read on to find out more
We have had quite a few requests in the last while to do a review on Nitrous Networks Minecraft Hosting so we thought we would finally get around to it.
But to make things even more interesting, we decided to compare them to another popular Minecraft Hosting service, Shockbyte.
You might be surprised to see the results.
Features
First, let’s compare some of the most important features of each service. Below is a summary of each Minecraft host.
| Feature | Nitrous Networks | Shockbyte |
| Refund Policy | 7 Days* | 24 hours |
| Server Locations | 8 | 4 |
| Reviews* | 4.5 / 5 | 3 / 5 |
| Dedicated IP | $1.60/month | $5.00/month |
| SSD Storage | Yes | Yes |
Feature Comparison
Our feature summary doesn’t explain the differences fully, so let’s take a look at each point, one by one.
Refund Policy
Refunds in the Minecraft hosting industry are typically pretty tough. I can’t personally blame the hosting companies as there tends to be a high rate of fraud in this market so they need to protect themselves.
Now, having said that, let’s take a look at the two companies and see how they compare for offering refunds.
Shockbyte
Shockbyte offers a 24 hour moneyback guarantee. Definitely not the best in the industry but at least they offer one. Digging deeper into the reviews at Trustpilot shows that they seem to not like to give refunds as there are a lot of reviews commenting on this issue.
Normally we wouldn’t be too concerned about these complaints since it is way more common for people to leave reviews when they are unhappy than when they are pleased. The problem is that virtually every page we reviewed on Trustpilot had this same complaint listed over and over again.
Nitrous Networks
Nitrous Networks offers a 7 day moneyback guarantee. But it’s not quite so straightforward. According to their Terms of Service (TOS), they only offer refunds if their services are at fault. That doesn’t seem so great but it does hold them to account for providing a decent product since these are the examples of valid reasons for asking for a refund:
- The control panel being unavailable for more than an hour.
- Your service being unavailable before any mods/addons or maps have been installed on to the server.
- An error resulting in the activation of your service taking longer than 24 hours.
- No initial reply to a support ticket within 12 hours.
While we are not fans of conditions being applied to refund policies, at least Nitrous Networks gives a reasonable amount of time to make sure their service is up to par and will honor refunds if they don’t live up to their end of the bargain.
Server Locations
Shockbyte
Shockbyte offers only one server location in North America and one in Europe. They also have servers located in Singapore and Australia. If you are located in or near Singapore or Australia, Shockbyte might perform better as Nitrous Networks has no servers in these areas.
Nitrous Networks
If you are located in Europe or North America, Nitrous Networks has much better server choices for you than Shockbyte. Here is a list of Nitrous Network’s server locations:
- London, UK
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Falkenstein, Germany
- Quebec, Canada
- Ashburn, VA, USA
- Atlanta, GA, USA
- Phoenix, AZ, USA
- Buffalo, NY, USA
Reviews
This is where things really start to fall apart. We compared user reviews on various platforms that can be trusted for impartiality. These include:
- Trustpilot
- Hostadvice
- Spigotmc
- Minecraftforum
We analyzed hundreds of reviews and forum postings on the above sites and found that Truspilot’s ratings of both services was more or less accurate when compared to all the sites in general.
Overall, Shockbyte is a more well known brand than Nitrous Networks. Perhaps the popularity of their services is to blame for their much lower review rating when compared to their competitors.
Two of the most common complaints regarding Shockbyte on Trustpilot are lack of support and not receiving refund, even when asked for within the 24 hour time window.
We noticed on Shockbyte’s Facebook page that they have removed the option to rate their service. But thanks to Google, we are able to see what their rating was prior to removing the rating feature. Can’t say as I blame them.
Support
Hopefully when you order a service, everything works great and you don’t need to contact support to fix problems. We all know that this isn’t always the case. I’m sure you’ll agree that it can be very frustrating to be ready to play only to hit some kind of a technical glitch.
Both Shockbyte and Nitrous Networks offer online chat as well as ticketing support. For both services, online chat is only going to be of use for the simplest of problems and both companies will request you open a ticket for any questions or problems that require real support.
In our opinion, using a ticketing system for tech support is a good idea since you then have a complete record of your conversation with the company. It allows both you and the tech support department to review previous messages to ensure the best support possible is being given.
Nitrous Networks
Support response seems to be where Nitrous Networks really shines. During our analysis of hundreds of reviews of both companies, we read time and time again about how quick and knowledgeable tech support is at this company.
Making support a top priority is clearly why Nitrous Networks overall reviews are so positive. In our opinion, quality of support is the second most important feature of any hosting company – with the first most important being quality of the hosting service.
While we all hope that we don’t need to use tech support, it is reassuring to know that Nitrous is able to answer your questions quickly and accurately to get you back to your game.
Shockbyte
The number one complaint we read hundreds of times over on our sample review forums is the general lack of support at Shockbyte. This ranged from slow responses to tickets, inaccurate replies and often times no response at all to open tickets.
Want to get a response to your support ticket at Shockbyte quickly? Sure, just shell out another $3 and apparently they will respond faster.
To be fair, tech support is one of the single largest costs to most hosting companies. After using and reviewing hundreds of services including web hosting, vpn’s, minecraft hosting and more we have found that more often than not that the quality of support is what makes a service shine or fail.
Shockbyte definitely gets a fail in the support department. Support is a vital part of any hosting business and charging people to get a response in a reasonable period of time is unfair. Perhaps Shockbyte should charge a bit more for their services so they could afford to hire more staff and provide decent support in the first place.
Summary
For hosting services such as Minecraft Hosting, price is only one of many factors you need to consider. Quality of servers, speed and knowledge of support and low latency / ping times are all more important considerations than price.
There is an old saying: “Buy cheap, buy twice“, meaning that if you buy the cheap option you will inevitably be unhappy with your purchase and end up buying the one you should have in the first place.
If price is your only consideration, then Shockbyte is probably your best choice as Nitrous Networks offers a premium service but at a slightly higher price. If you want a game server that will run reliably with fast speeds and low ping times, then Nitrous Networks is your clear choice.
And remember – At DomainCouponsPro, no one ever pays full price. Click the link below and check out our Promo Codes and Coupons for Nitrous Networks.
Shockbyte vs VpsCraft - Who comes out on top?
When it comes to gaming servers, especially Minecraft servers – Shockbyte is very popular. But does that mean they are the best on the market?
Think about it – If you own any domain names, you probably know that Godaddy sucks. They are expensive – way more than almost everyone else, yet they are the leader in their field.
So what does this have to do with our review? Simple – just because Shockbyte is one of the leaders in their field doesn’t mean they are the best choice. Read on to see our comparison between Shockbyte and one of their much smaller competitors – VpsCraft.
We’ll let you make your own decision.
Pricing
Let’s take a look at a pricing comparison between the two services. The first table is if you don’t want a dedicated ip from Shockbyte. Hint: Dedicated ip’s are FREE from Vpscraft
| Server Size | Shockbyte | Vpscraft | Savings |
| 1GB | $1.80 | $1.75 | 3% |
| 2GB | $4.50 | $3.50 | 22% |
| 4GB | $9.00 | $5.60 | 37% |
| 8GB | $18.00 | $10.50 | 42% |
You want or need a dedicated ip for your Minecraft server and want to stick with Shockbyte? As you’ll see from the table below, prepare to shell out up to 74% more than Vpscraft. That’s a big difference!
| Server Size | Shockbyte | Vpscraft | Savings |
| 1GB | $6.80 | $1.75 | 74% |
| 2GB | $9.50 | $3.50 | 63% |
| 4GB | $14.00 | $5.60 | 60% |
| 8GB | $23.00 | $10.50 | 54% |
No matter what size server you are interested in, you can see from the table above that Vpscraft.com is always a better value compared to Shockbyte.com.
How do we come up with these numbers?
Simple. The best recurring discount Shockbyte offers is 10%. Yes, they do have a 50% off offer, but that’s only good for one month so we don’t count that. We have a promo code for Vpscraft.com for 30% off for life so that’s the numbers we use.
Even if you took both services at full price, Vpscraft is always cheaper.
And one thing we don’t take into account in this price comparison: All paid Vpscraft plans include a dedicated ip, which would cost an extra $5 per month at Shockbyte. If you want that feature, that makes Shockbyte more than double the price on most plans!
But you might be saying to yourself, “price isn’t everything”. And you’d be right. I’m more than happy to pay a premium for a good product or service that will satisfy my needs. On the other hand the old saying “you get what you pay for” isn’t always true. Take our Godaddy example. They are way more expensive than their competitors yet give the same or less service. Sometimes you’re just paying for a name. And that’s just not right.
“Sometimes you're paying for a name. And that's just not right.”
Reviews
Don’t take our word for it. Check out some of the reviews of Shockbyte and Vpscraft.
There seems to be a common theme with Shockbyte here:
- They don’t like to give refunds even though they clearly state a 24 hour refund policy. This complaint is repeated over and over again by many people.
- Their support leaves a lot to be desired. In fact they have a ‘fast track’ system where you can pay to get faster support. Umm, maybe you should just provide your customers with reasonable support in the first place? Crazy to have to pay to get a response.
Shockbyte
Vpscraft
How to save at Vpscraft
Vpscraft.com doesn’t make it too obvious on how to use promo codes to save money on services on their site. To enter a promo code, just go to the second page of the order form, and you’ll see a small link saying “Promo?” just to the right of the Subtotal. See our screenshot below.
Just click the link and you’ll get a box allowing you to enter the promo code from our site.
Summary
Better hosting for less. That is Vpscraft.com vs. Shockbyte.com in a nutshell. Why would you want to pay more for less?
Click below to go to our Vpscraft coupon page and give this great service a try. Remember – they have a 7 day money-back guarantee so if you’re not satisfied in any way, you can get a refund. HINT: They actually give refunds as promised!
Surfshark Review
Can a rookie hit a homerun?
We are pleased to present our review of Surfshark vpn. Is the new kid on the block ready to take on the competition? We think so. Check out our detailed review and decide for yourself.
Pros
- No Logs
- Fast Speeds
- Unlimited Devices
- Good Support
- Good Value
Cons
- Limited Apps
- Short track record
- Average # of Servers
Our Rating
Logging
Vpn’s are here to protect our privacy so if a company keeps logs or is in an area where they can be compelled by law to hand over that information then what is the point?
Surfshark has a strict no-logging policy. And the company is located in the British Virgin Islands, a jurisdiction that has no data retention laws.
What does this mean to you? Simply put, what you do on Surfshark is your business. If for instance, you download a movie and the maker wants to come after you for damages, too bad. There are no logs, there are no records.
Our Rating: 10/10
Speed
All I can say is WOW. Surfshark is fast. In fact, the fastest service I’ve ever tested.Here are my results BEFORE Surfshark:
On my normal internet connection, I got a download speed of 176.61 Mbps and an upload speed of 15.64 Mbps. Ping was 41 ms.
Here are my results RUNNING Surfshark:
Running Surfshark, I got a download speed of 160.24 Mbps and an upload speed of 9.46 Mbps. Ping was unchanged at 41 ms.
The download speed was extremely fast and though it was about a 9% drop in speed, that difference would be unnoticeable in real life. The upload speed changed considerably but that isn’t that big of a concern and cable connections like mine are notorious for having abysmal upload rates.
Testing with Netflix and Youtube showed no lag or stutter.
Connecting to servers was extremely fast as well. Even connecting to servers a long distance from me was no problem. Though I’d suggest leaving the setting to ‘optimal’ and letting them figure it out for you unless you need to use a server in a specific location.
I tested both the Chrome extension and the Windows app. Both gave me similar results although the Chrome app seems to connect to the server slightly faster.
Even though these speeds are the fastest I’ve ever seen from any vpn, I didn’t rate it a 10 because I won’t ever give a vpn service that high of a rating. 9.5 is the highest I’ll go and the highest I’ve ever given on any test so kudos to Surfshark.
Our Rating: 9.5/10
Torrents/P2P
Some vpn’s do not allow the use P2P services. Other services promote it heavily. Surfshark is the latter.
If you like to download content via torrents, you probably already received an email or ten from your isp about ‘illegal’ downloads. With Surfshark, those concerns are gone.
I tested downloading and sharing several .torrent files and not surprisingly found the speeds to be fast and consistent with the speed tests I’d done previously.
Our Rating: 10/10
Streaming
One of the big features of a vpn service is being able to stream services like Netflix, Hulu and BBC from outside of the areas that it is allowed. Many of these services – especially Netflix – have gone to great lengths to stop vpn’s from being able to access their services.
I tested Netflix from six servers in three countries: US, Canada and Australia. All servers connected without any problems. Streaming was fast with no lag, even Australia which is half a world away from me.
I also tested BBC iPlayer and it worked fine as well with no noticeable lag.
Surfshark is one of the few services I’ve tested that hasn’t had at least one server banned from one of the streaming services so because of that, I give it a 10/10.
Our Rating: 10/10
Apps and Interface
Here is one of the few places Surfshark loses a few points. Since they are fairly new, they do not have native apps for all platforms like most of their longstanding competition do.
Surfshark has native apps or extensions for:
Windows
Android
iOs
Chrome
Firefox
That should cover it for the vast majority of people but notably, they do not have a native app for MacOS nor Linux. They do however support both and have instructions on how to set them up manually. They have a Windows app which I tested and it works fine. It is marked as a beta on their site though so not sure if there are any bugs or quirks that I didn’t find.
They also have router support via some setup tutorials.
The interface of the apps is clean and minimalist but all of the settings you’d expect are neatly tucked away behind some tabs. I would guess that these apps will grow and mature with time but are completely usable as is.
This rating was a bit of a struggle and maybe a little harsh given the fact that they will cover probably 90% of their prospective customers. But they have some work to do right now and I will update the review in the future as this improves hopefully.
Our Rating: 7/10
Servers and Locations
At face value, it is hard to fault Surfshark for their location list. They boast 500+ servers in 50+ locations and cover a large chunk of the populated areas around the globe.
They do however have a long ways to go compared to some of their more mature competition. As mentioned above under Speed, their servers all seem blazingly fast so that is definitely a plus in their favor.
This is another rating that I will likely have to upgrade in the near future as they seem to be adding servers and locations at a breakneck speed.
Our Rating: 8.5/10
Security
Surfshark uses OpenVPN and IKEv2 protocols with 256 bit AES encryption. This is ideal for security as well as battery savings on mobile devices. Hard to find any fault here.
Their Windows app has a kill switch feature which is a must-have. This will kill your connection if it detects a loss of vpn security. Without this feature, downloading torrents for instance can leave you vulnerable.
They also have a feature they call ‘cleanweb’ which is supposedly an ad and malware blocker. I didn’t test this feature as I am already covered with other software.
Accepting CryptoCurrency is another big plus. Some people that want to be completely anonymous don’t want to pay via credit card or Paypal since there is a paper trail. Using crypto currency solves this problem.
They lost a point here as both the kill switch and cleanweb are disabled by default. It’s a simple click to go into the settings and turn them on but I have to question why these security tools are not enabled upon install. It might be nitpicky, but most of us are in a hurry to get going and may not look into the settings at all.
Our Rating: 9/10
Support
I tested Surfshark’s support via online chat and email. Online chat response was very fast – well under 30 seconds. I asked some random pre-purchase questions and it was clear that the agent I was chatting with knew his stuff and wasn’t just pasting from pre-written responses.
Email response was fast as well at around three minutes. And this was at 10pm my local time. 1am if their support is in the British Virgin Islands where the company is located. Either way, still impressive.
I can’t find anything to fault them on in regards to support but this is another of those categories that I never give a full rating on. Sorry Surfshark – you deserve a 10 but I just can’t do it.
Our Rating: 9.5/10
Value
Cost should naturally be one of the least important criteria when looking for a vpn service. Let’s face it, if a service can’t pass the previous 8 tests but they have a great price then what is the point?
If you use my link you can get Surfshark for 83% off or $1.99/month on a two year plan. That is an excellent value.
They lose a little bit of score as their 1 month and 12 months prices are ok but not outstanding. Not surprisingly, they give little or no discount on monthly plans which is fine with me as I would never sign up to a service like this for such a short time.
Surfshark does not have a free trial but they do offer a full 30 day money-back guarantee which is one of the best in the business. It shouldn’t take more than a day or two to realistically decide if the service is right for you so they give ample time to decide.
Our Rating: 9.5/10
Summary
Testing and reviewing Surfshark was a pleasant surprise. They are clearly trying hard to be a market leader and if they continue on this track, they will soon be one of the best known and well used services in their market.
I’m so pleased in fact with their product, service and support that they will likely become my go-to vpn from now on. Seeing as how I’ve been with my current provider for over 4 years, that is saying a lot.
They will soon be one of the best known and well used services in their market
Sure, they are still a little rough around the edges in a couple of areas. But none of those issues are major and none of them affect me or probably you either. If their few shortcomings are a show stopper for your particular needs then take a look at some our other reviews and choose another provider. Otherwise, choosing Surfshark is likely to be a choice you won’t regret.
Overall Rating: 93%
