MineGuard vs CosmicGuard: Honest Comparison 2026

CosmicGuard vs MineGuard: An Honest Comparison for 2026

If you are looking for DDoS protection for your Minecraft server, you have probably come across CosmicGuard. It is a well-known service that has been around for a while. But here at MineGuard, we believe we offer more for your money. In this article, we will break down both services feature by feature. No marketing fluff, just facts and numbers.

Let us be upfront: CosmicGuard is a solid service. It works, it protects. But the market keeps evolving. When we built MineGuard, we studied every weakness of existing solutions and addressed them head-on. The results speak for themselves.

What CosmicGuard Offers

CosmicGuard is a DDoS protection service for game servers with a focus on Minecraft. The service offers traffic proxying, basic attack filtering, and a control panel. It has been around for a while and has a stable reputation.

CosmicGuard's strengths include straightforward setup and reliable operation. If you need basic protection without extras, it gets the job done. But that is where the limitations start showing up.

CosmicGuard's Limitations

• No built-in captcha for bot filtering
• Limited customization of block messages
• No Bedrock tunnel support
• Real-time analytics are limited
• No IP/country/ASN firewall at the filter level
• English-only interface (no Russian language support)

What MineGuard Offers

MineGuard is not just a DDoS filter. We are building a comprehensive platform for Minecraft server protection. Traffic filtering, intelligent attack detection, captcha, firewall, analytics, Bedrock support. Everything in one panel.

Our filter is written in Rust. This gives us a performance edge and allows us to process massive traffic volumes with minimal latency. Every packet is analyzed in microseconds.

Key MineGuard Advantages

• Built-in captcha. Bots get filtered right at the proxy level. A real player completes the check once and continues playing without interruption. This is the only reliable way to tell bots from humans.
• MiniMessage block messages. Customize your block messages with full MiniMessage format support. Colors, gradients, hover effects. Your server, your style.
• Real-time analytics. See every connection, every blocked packet, player geography. Dashboards update in real time, not every five minutes.
• VPN/proxy blocking. We block VPN and proxy connections at the filter level. No plugins needed, no delays.
• IP/Country/ASN firewall. Flexible filtering rules right in the panel. Block a specific IP, an entire country, or an autonomous system in a couple of clicks.
• Bedrock tunnels. Let Java servers accept Bedrock players through our protection. CosmicGuard does not offer this.
• PlasmoVoice support. We proxy PlasmoVoice traffic through our protection seamlessly.
• Servers in Germany and Russia. Filtering servers are located in Germany (Frankfurt) and Russia (Moscow). CIS players connect through the Moscow filter with minimal latency instead of going through Europe with extra 30-40ms. CosmicGuard does not have servers in Russia.
• Adaptive CPM detection. Our system automatically adjusts to your server's normal connection rate and reacts to anomalies.

Comparison Table: MineGuard vs CosmicGuard

Feature	MineGuard	CosmicGuard
L3/L4 DDoS Protection	Yes	Yes
L7 DDoS Protection (Minecraft)	Yes	Yes
Proxy Protocol v2	Yes	Yes
Built-in Captcha	Yes	No
MiniMessage Block Messages	Yes	No
Real-time Analytics	Yes	Limited
VPN/Proxy Blocking	Yes (at filter level)	No
IP/Country/ASN Firewall	Yes	No
Bedrock Tunnels	Yes	No
PlasmoVoice	Yes	No
Adaptive CPM Detector	Yes	Basic
Servers in Russia (Moscow)	Yes	No
Russian Language Support	Yes	No
Free Plan	Yes (1 network, 1TB)	No

MineGuard Pricing

One of MineGuard's biggest advantages over CosmicGuard is the free tier. You can try our protection with zero investment and decide if it fits your server before spending anything.

• Free: 0 RUB/month. 1 network, 3 domains, 1TB traffic. Perfect for small servers and testing.
• Basic: 390 RUB/month (~$4). 1 network, 5 domains, 3TB traffic.
• Starter: 860 RUB/month (~$9). 1 network, 10 domains, 5TB, VPN blocking, firewall.
• Optimal: 2,790 RUB/month (~$30). 3 networks, 25 domains, 30TB, captcha, Bedrock tunnels.
• Professional: 8,600 RUB/month (~$93). 10 networks, 100 domains, 150TB. For large projects.

CosmicGuard does not offer a free plan. With MineGuard, you can set up protection in five minutes and pay nothing.

Performance and Latency

Our filter is written in Rust and operates at the kernel level via XDP. Packets are filtered before they even reach the operating system's network stack. Latency is minimal.

In practice, players do not notice the protection is there. Ping stays the same as a direct connection. For competitive servers where every millisecond counts, this matters a lot.

Captcha: Why It Matters

Bot attacks on Minecraft servers are getting more sophisticated every year. Simple rate limiting no longer cuts it. Bots emulate real players, complete the handshake, connect to the server, and create load.

Our built-in captcha solves this problem at its root. When suspicious activity is detected, the player sees a simple check right inside the Minecraft client. It takes seconds to complete, and then they play without restrictions. Bots cannot pass this check.

CosmicGuard offers nothing like this. You would need to install separate anti-bot plugins on your server, which consume resources and are not always effective.

When to Choose CosmicGuard

Let us be fair. CosmicGuard may work for you if all you need is basic DDoS protection without additional features. If you do not plan to use captcha, firewall, or analytics, and if you are fine with an English-only interface, it is a working solution for basic needs.

When to Choose MineGuard

MineGuard is the right choice if you want to get the most out of your protection. Captcha, firewall, VPN blocking, Bedrock tunnels, analytics, custom messages. All available out of the box with no third-party plugins needed.

Plus, the free plan lets you try everything hands-on with zero financial risk. Connect your server, play with the settings, make sure everything works. Then decide if you need a paid plan.

The Bottom Line

CosmicGuard is a good service. But MineGuard offers more features, better analytics, a built-in captcha, and a firewall. All at a comparable or lower price. And the free plan makes the barrier to entry exactly zero.

If you are choosing between CosmicGuard and MineGuard, try both. But we are confident that once you see our panel and feature set, the choice will be obvious.