Comparison based on publicly available information as of July 2026. Spot an inaccuracy? Tell us on Discord and we'll fix it.
Where TCPShield is strong
- Track record — operating since 2015 and, per tcpshield.com as of July 2026, protecting 100,000+ Minecraft networks, with well-known servers such as MrBeast Gaming and 2b2t listed among its users.
- Network reach — the site cites 50+ internet exchange points and 250+ network peers, reaching the majority of players in 30ms or less.
- A genuinely free entry point — $0 with 1 TB of monthly bandwidth is enough for many small servers to get protected at no cost.
- Mature self-serve panel — version insights, real-time attack graphs, and load balancing with automatic removal of crashed backends.
Where Arvoris differs
- Player-based pricing, not bandwidth-based — $0 (15 players), $10 (60), $25 (150), $40 (500). Per tcpshield.com/plans as of July 2026, TCPShield runs $0, $25, $100 and $250/mo with bandwidth caps on the lower two tiers. You never estimate terabytes with Arvoris.
- Protocol-aware filtering plus verification — Cryo parses Minecraft traffic per hostname, and CryoLimbo puts suspicious joins through a limbo-world captcha and behavioral gauntlet before they touch your server.
- Security features bundled, not separate — AntiVPN is on every plan and stolen-account detection comes with Essential ($25/mo). Neither appears on TCPShield's public plans page as of July 2026.
- Mitigation tuning from $10/mo — tunable antibot and captcha verification start on Budget; per tcpshield.com/plans, custom mitigation settings are listed from the $100/mo Premium tier.
- Real player IPs on the free tier — PROXY protocol on every plan, including $0.
- 7 dedicated PoPs — NYC, Miami, Frankfurt, Warsaw, Tel Aviv, Singapore and Tokyo, with anycast entry at the nearest of 330+ Cloudflare cities (see locations).
- Self-serve everything — every plan through Value is sign-up-and-go at beta-panel.arvoris.net; no sales calls.
Plans side by side
| Free tier | TCPShield: 1 TB bandwidth, 1 network, 3 domains (per tcpshield.com/plans, July 2026). Arvoris: 15 players, 1 backend, full pipeline, real IPs, no traffic cap |
| First paid tier | TCPShield Pro $25/mo, 5 TB bandwidth, API access. Arvoris Budget $10/mo, 60 players, tunable antibot, captcha verification, webhooks |
| Custom mitigation settings | TCPShield: from Premium at $100/mo. Arvoris: antibot tuning from Budget at $10/mo, full gauntlet control on Essential at $25/mo |
| Geo routing | TCPShield: use-case specific geo routing listed on Enterprise at $250/mo. Arvoris: geo-steering load balancer on Value at $40/mo |
| Largest disclosed mitigation | Arvoris: 7.15 Tbps volumetric and a 50M-connection L7 attack. TCPShield: no capacity figure published on its site as of July 2026 |
How to switch
Migration is a DNS swap, not a rebuild. Register at beta-panel.arvoris.net, create a network, point it at your backend (for example `203.0.113.7:25565`), and verify your domain. Put a test hostname on the Arvoris endpoint first and run both services in parallel — your existing setup keeps serving players while you confirm latency and check that real IPs arrive via PROXY protocol. When you're happy, move your main record. Total hands-on time is about five minutes, and there's no plugin to install or remove.
Common questions
Is TCPShield better than Arvoris?+
It depends on what you weigh. TCPShield has been operating since 2015, protects a very large number of networks, and its free tier is a proven starting point. The decision rule: if you want maximum track record and name recognition, TCPShield is a reasonable pick. If you want custom mitigation tuning, antibot verification, AntiVPN and stolen-account detection at the $10–40/mo level, or real player IPs on a free plan, Arvoris is built for exactly that.
Can I test Arvoris while still using TCPShield?+
Yes. Both are DNS-fronted proxies, so they can run in parallel on different hostnames — keep play.yourdomain.com on your current setup and point test.yourdomain.com at your Arvoris endpoint. Switch the main record only when you're satisfied.
Do both have free plans?+
Yes. Per tcpshield.com/plans as of July 2026, TCPShield's free plan includes 1.0 TB of monthly bandwidth, 1 network and 3 domains. Arvoris Free covers up to 15 concurrent players with the full mitigation pipeline, real player IPs via PROXY protocol, 1,000 AntiVPN queries and 24h analytics — no bandwidth meter.
Does Arvoris cap bandwidth like TCPShield's plans do?+
No. TCPShield's Free and Pro tiers are bandwidth-metered (1 TB and 5 TB monthly, per tcpshield.com/plans as of July 2026), with unlimited bandwidth starting at the $100/mo Premium tier. Arvoris plans are defined by concurrent player slots — 15, 60, 150 or 500 — with no traffic caps published on any tier.
Will my ban and permission plugins keep working after switching?+
Yes. Arvoris delivers the real client IP to your backend via PROXY protocol on every plan, including Free, so IP bans, alt detection and geo plugins see true player addresses rather than proxy IPs.
How long does migrating from TCPShield to Arvoris take?+
About five minutes of work: create a network in the panel, add your backend IP:port, verify your domain, and swap one DNS record. Players reconnect through the new edge as the record propagates — no plugin changes and no downtime window required.
The cheapest way to compare is to run the numbers yourself: the free plan includes the same mitigation pipeline as every paid tier, so a weekend test on a spare subdomain tells you more than any comparison table. Full pricing here.