Posts tagged "MQTT"

12 articles across the Voltrus blog.

This collection brings together every MQTT article published on the Voltrus blog. "NATS vs MQTT: Which Messaging Protocol Should You Choose?", "MQTT Topic Design: Best Practices for Naming and Wildcards", "MQTT vs HTTP for IoT: Which Protocol Should You Use": each one is a practical, hands-on guide written for engineers and system integrators. Whether you are choosing between protocols, troubleshooting a connection, or planning an integration, these articles cover the concepts, the trade-offs, and the step-by-step details you need.

12 articles

NATS vs MQTT: Which Messaging Protocol Should You Choose?

NATS vs MQTT compared. Publish/subscribe models, persistence with JetStream, QoS and delivery guarantees, broker footprint, and when each protocol fits IoT, microservices, and edge systems.

Read article

MQTT Topic Design: Best Practices for Naming and Wildcards

MQTT topic naming rules, forward-slash hierarchy, the + and # wildcards, shared subscriptions, ACL security, and the anti-patterns that bite teams in production.

Read article

MQTT vs HTTP for IoT: Which Protocol Should You Use

MQTT vs HTTP for IoT: publish/subscribe vs request/response, 2-byte headers vs hundreds, push vs poll, QoS guarantees, and when to use each protocol.

Read article

MQTT vs Direct Database Writes from IoT Devices: Why the Broker Wins

Why IoT devices that INSERT directly to Postgres, MySQL, or SQL Server break at scale (connection limits, schema coupling, no offline buffering, credential sprawl), and why an MQTT broker feeding a single ingest bridge is the architecture that survives a field fleet.

Read article

MQTT Keep Alive Explained: What It Is, How to Tune It, and Why Clients Disconnect

MQTT keep alive explained: the CONNECT packet field, the 1.5x timeout rule, PINGREQ/PINGRESP, how brokers detect dead clients, and how to choose the right interval for IoT devices.

Read article

OPC-UA vs MQTT for Industrial IoT: Which Should You Choose

OPC-UA for rich plant-floor integration and SCADA; MQTT for lightweight multi-site telemetry. Data models, security, bandwidth, and when each protocol wins.

Read article

MQTT Retained Messages and Last Will: Explained with Examples

Retained messages give new subscribers instant state; Last Will publishes on ungraceful disconnect for offline detection. Concrete topic and payload examples included.

Read article

MQTT Explorer vs MQTT Explorer: Native Mac MQTT Without Electron

The Electron MQTT Explorer costs 300MB RAM and 10s to launch. Native MacTools MQTT Explorer is Apple Silicon, <50MB RAM, instant, with a built-in broker. $14.99 one-time.

Read article

MQTT Sparkplug B Explained: Industrial IoT Protocol Guide (2026)

MQTT Sparkplug B explained for industrial automation. Understand topics, payloads, birth/death certificates, data types, and how Sparkplug B compares to basic MQTT.

Read article

MQTT QoS Levels Explained: When to Use QoS 0, 1, or 2

MQTT QoS 0, 1, and 2 explained with practical examples. At-most-once, at-least-once, exactly-once delivery for IoT and industrial systems.

Read article

Industrial Protocol Comparison: Modbus vs OPC UA vs MQTT vs S7

Side-by-side comparison of the four most common industrial protocols. Data models, security, speed, vendor lock-in, and when to use each one.

Read article

MQTT Broker on macOS: Run One Without Homebrew or Terminal

How to run an MQTT broker on macOS without Homebrew, Terminal, or mosquitto. Native MQTT broker and client with GUI for macOS.

Read article