Comparison between CoAP and MQTT Protocols
Contents
Summary
- The Key Difference between CoAP and MQTT Protocols are below the table.

Comparison Chart
CoAP | MQTT | |
---|---|---|
1 | CoAP stands for Constrained Application Protocol. | MQTT stands for Message query telemetry transport. |
2 | CoAP uses the Request-Response model. | MQTT uses the Publish-Subscribe model. |
3 | CoAP uses UDP protocol(User Datagram Protocol ). | MQTT uses TCP protocol(Transmission Control Protocol). |
4 | The communication model is One-to-one. | The communication model is Many-to-many. |
5 | The security type is DTLS(Datagram Transport Layer Security). | The security type is SSL/TLS. |
6 | Effectiveness in LLN is excellent. | Effectiveness in LLN is low. |
7 | Use both Asynchronous and Synchronous messages. | Uses only Asynchronous messages. |
8 | C0AP header size 4 bytes. | MQTT header size 2 bytes. |
CoAP Advantages
- Lightweight and fast
- Low overhead
- Support for multicasting
CoAP Disadvantages
- Not as reliable as TCP based
MQTT Advantages
- Simple management
- Scalability
- Robust communication
MQTT Disadvantages
- Higher overhead, no multicasting MQTT support