top of page

A Comparison of AMQP and MQTT


Introduction


In the IoT technology stack, the IoT protocols play a major role. Through these protocols, hardware is able to exchange data in a meaningful and organized way. The programming languages lay the foundation for IoT apps, while protocols facilitate communication between devices, servers, gateways, sensors, and user apps.


Overview


Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) and Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) are two most common lightweight protocols for communication between applications. Both AMQP and MQTT are open protocols for asynchronous message queuing that have been developed and refined over time.


AMQP has chosen the OASIS industry standards in order to establish an ISO/IEC standard. The MQTT platform is powered by Eclipse.


AMQP executes its messaging queue using Wire. MQTT was designed for low-bandwidth devices. This is a simple broadcasting system through which a client can send and receive messages.


MQTT is a low-overhead, easy-to-implement protocol for sending data, especially from embedded devices. AMQP is an asynchronous alternative to HTTP. Both are useful for cloud computing and the internet of things because they can meet basic messaging requirements.


Origins


MQTT: What is the MQTT protocol?


MQTT is a publish-subscribe network protocol that uses a minimal code footprint and low network capacity to send messages between devices. This TCP/IP-based lightweight protocol is used in a range of industries, including manufacturing, automotive, and oil and gas.


Why is MQTT used in the Internet of Things?

  1. MQTT clients are lightweight. On microcontrollers, it just requires a small amount of resources to run.

  2. Millions of IoT devices can be connected using the MQTT protocol.

  3. MQTT enables messaging to travel from the cloud to the device and back again. Broadcasting messages to a collection of items is now much easier.

  4. MQTT offers a dependable message delivery, making it a good fit for a variety of IoT scenarios.

  5. MQTT made the process of encrypting messages much simpler using advanced protocols like OAuth.

  6. MQTT addresses the issue of unpredictable cellular networks, which many IoT devices use to communicate. The protocol allows for persistent sessions, which reduces the time it takes for the client to reconnect with the broker.

IoT apps that use MQTT protocol


MQTT is the primary message broker used by Amazon (AWS). AWS use MQTT in their solar monitoring system, which transfers data from solar batteries to a cloud dashboard. IBM Watson's primary communication protocol is MQTT. Cisco, IECC, McAfee, and Red Hat use MQTT for a variety of purposes. The Azure IoT Hub is a Microsoft service that creates MQTT-based apps.


AMQP: The MQTT alternative.

JP Morgan Chase & Co. invented AMQP in 2003 as an open-messaging protocol designed primarily for financial systems. It's a TCP-based protocol that can communicate in both publish/subscribe and request/response modes.


AMQP is a low-latency protocol with low overhead. CPU and RAM usage is moderate, but it is more than MQTT. AMQP is an open-standard protocol with comprehensive documentation. AMQP supports multiple connections. Several TLS extensions make it a suitable choice for data encryption and client authentication due to its high security level.

AMQP is a customer-driven protocol that originated in the finance world. It's a free approach to communicate the rapidly growing over-the-counter trace market without the hassle of developing a custom protocol and dealing with the licence issues that comes with it.

AMQP basics

AMQP is a popular message-transfer protocol in the IoT ecosystem because it is both reliable and compact. AMQP does not prescribe a predefined structural design, therefore, provides additional choices in all directions.


The protocol is a powerful rival to MQTT. Bidirectional communication, many variations in publish/subscribe topics, queue access, and universal routing brokers across many vendors are all provided by AMQP-enabled applications. AMQP can link across technologies and apps on various platforms; AMQP can safely function over weak networks, and systems do not need to be accessible at the same time.

Comparison between AMPQ and MQTT


AMQP and MQTT are both open source queuing systems that use the TCP protocol, and binary standard. However, AMQP supports a wider number of message scenarios. MQTT, on the other hand, is a basic message queuing protocol that is typically used in embedded systems.

Background


AMQP is an open-source, customer-driven queue developed by finance firms. MQTT is primarily vendor-driven, and it was developed by IBM at a significant cost of deployment.


Protocol Development

AMQP is a messaging protocol that is completely functional. Regardless of the operating system, hardware, or programming language used; AMQP uses TCP for asynchronous message transit. Parties with varied levels of control over network users and infrastructure resources use AMQP.

MQTT was created with small devices in mind, and it works best when the network capacity is limited. It uses TCP to send and receive messages in an asynchronous manner, regardless of their properties.


Framework optimization


The buffer-oriented strategy of AMQP allows for high-performance servers.

MQTT uses a more stream-oriented approach, making it easier to write frames for clients with limited memory.


Messaging Services


Consume, deliver, publish, obtain, select, acknowledge, delete, recover, reject, open, and close are the steps in the AMQP protocol. Message queues, roundrobin, store-and-forward, and combinations of these are all possible with AMQP.


MQTT is a highly transitory communications protocol based on pub-sub messaging. It is mostly used for active subscription and publisher routing. MQTT uses the connect, publish, close, subscribe, and disconnect methods.

Security at connection

While MQTT does not address any security vulnerabilities in the connection, AMQP was created with the potential to improve performance through continuous updates.

Security to user

Before broadcasting any messages, AMQP authenticates the user. MQTT requires short user names and simple passwords, and it takes no precautions during the communication.

AMQP supports IPSec, SASL, TLS, or SSL security, whereas MQTT only supports TLS or SSL security. SCTP is used by both AMQP and TCP for transmission. Both AMQP and MQTT are supported by OASIS.

Message namespaces


AMQP supports many methods for locating messages, including nodes and queues. In a structured message transmission, MQTT employs "namespaces."

Additional Characteristics

AMQP provides peer-to-peer connections, as well as load balancing and multiplexing for the entire network. Containers can be used, and the topics are bisymmetric. MQTT specifies the DNS server's fundamental needs. MQTT is asymmetric and lacks advanced functionality.



Conclusion


Despite the differences, Both AMQP and MQTT are open-source protocols that can be used in any application depending on the client requirements and available bandwidth. Many large IoT systems prefer to use both protocols together. MQTT seals the deal for being dependable, having a rapid response time, and supporting an unlimited number of devices, although AMQP is diverse and used for various communications capabilities. MQTT also has a large developer community that makes its deployment process easier.


Both protocols are built on top of TCP/IP and are designed to allow applications to communicate asynchronously regardless of the hardware, operating system, or programming language they adopt. However, MQTT is intended for a large number of small, relatively simple devices that send short messages over low-bandwidth networks. The AMQP, on the other hand, is intended to support a wide range of messaging environments.


AMQP is intended for use amongst parties with varying levels of authority who employ network and infrastructure resources that are not under their control. MQTT considers the network to be a near-private infrastructure between the parties in control.


Cheers,

Regami Solutions

bottom of page