While MQTT is widely used, it isn’t always the best fit for constrained devices on NB-IoT. That’s where MQTT-SN (Sensor Networks) comes in — a protocol designed to bring MQTT’s benefits to ultra-lightweight, low-power environments.
MQTT-SN is a variant of MQTT optimized for constrained devices and networks. It modifies the original protocol to reduce overhead:
MQTT-SN addresses many of the issues that make MQTT inefficient on NB-IoT:
The drawback: the ecosystem for MQTT-SN is smaller, meaning fewer off-the-shelf tools, libraries, and cloud integrations compared to MQTT.
MQTT-SN offers a middle ground: the simplicity and familiarity of MQTT with the efficiency of UDP. It’s not as widely adopted as CoAP or LwM2M, but for specific NB-IoT sensor deployments, it’s a strong choice.