MQTT vs Kafka: An IoT Advocateâs Perspective (Part 1 – The Basics)

Kafka and MQTT are two popular protocols used in IoT architecture, but they complement each other rather than competing. Kafka is an event streaming platform that promotes high throughput, availability, and connectors to third-party platforms, making it suitable for IoT applications. However, it requires stable networks with good infrastructure and does not offer key data delivery features like Keep-Alive and Last Will. In comparison, MQTT has a simpler setup but may require more maintenance due to its flexible nature. A demo was created using both protocols to send emergency generator data, showcasing the differences in their implementation, including the establishment of topics, data preparation, and serialization. The author plans to release two more blogs in this series, covering more Kafka features and applying best practices to a real IoT project.

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