Why MQTT

MQTT opens the channel; the platform does the rest

Although it was born as an M2M technology, today MQTT is one of the most widespread Internet of Things communication protocols, thanks to its integration simplicity and flexibility.

That is why many commercial sensors have native MQTT integrations that can be configured to connect to a specific broker. However, MQTT only establishes a channel for communications. To create an IoT project you need other tools for management, storage or data visualization, and that is the role IoT platforms play.

Since the beginning of the project, Thinger.io has been committed to its own optimized protocol, which uses PSON to encode information. It follows a more advanced communication model, allows more efficient infrastructures and supports advanced operations to manage devices. But given how far MQTT has spread over the years, many developers would benefit from the platform’s tools if they could integrate MQTT devices on it. So why not offer this integration too?

That native protocol is now published as an open specification: IOTMP.

The platform already integrated Sigfox, LoRaWAN with The Things Network, and any other HTTP device that can be integrated through its REST API. Adding MQTT is one more step towards linking every kind of IoT device under the same infrastructure, whatever network technology it uses, so devices work together and share data and resources transparently. Every way to connect a device is on the Device connectivity page.

Integration

Integration of MQTT devices with Thinger.io

The process is explained in detail in the documentation; this brief example connects an MQTT client to the platform in two steps.

The full process is in the MQTT section of the documentation. The client in the example is MQTT.fx.

Create an MQTT device

Create a new device on the platform following the same process as any other device, but select the “MQTT” device type in the details form.

Set the broker and device credentials in the client

With them, the MQTT client can open the connection with the server and start sending data.
The Add Device form of the Thinger.io console with Device Type set to MQTT Device, Device Id mqtt1, a description and generated device credentials
Step 1: the device “mqtt1” is created as an MQTT device, with its own credentials.

MQTT defines a publish/subscribe messaging paradigm: devices publish data on a specific topic, or subscribe to a topic to retrieve data from the broker. These are the settings the client needs for the device “mqtt1” created above:

Broker settings

Broker address
The instance domain, e.g. acme.aws.thinger.io
Broker port
1883 · 8883 (SSL/TLS)
User name
Your Thinger.io user account ID
Client ID
The device identifier set in the device form
Password
The key placed in the device’s “Device credentials” field
MQTT version
3.13.1.1

MQTT.fx connection profile with broker address, broker port 8883, client ID mqtt1, and the user name and password under User Credentials
Step 2: the connection profile in MQTT.fx, filled in for the device “mqtt1” on port 8883.

Publish and subscribe

A small network of producers and consumers

Once the first MQTT client is connected, it can start sending data to topics.

In the example, one client publishes on the Thinger.io MQTT broker under the topic home/garden/fountain, and a second client subscribes to the same topic. That makes a small network of data producers and consumers, perfect for first tests and for checking the performance of the broker, with which we are very satisfied.

home/garden/fountain
{
  "example_text": "Hello World",
  "value": 123
}

Published by one client, received by the other

Two MQTT.fx windows: one publishes a JSON message on home/garden/fountain, the other is subscribed to the topic and shows the message received
The publisher on the left, the subscriber on the right: the JSON message arrives on home/garden/fountain.

Inside the platform

A broker built for the rest of the platform

The broker was built from scratch on version 3.1.1 of MQTT, focused on a proper integration with the platform’s features.

Device dashboard

Once connected, the device dashboard shows the connection status, the IP, the geolocation and the data transmission flows.

Data Buckets

Buckets can store a topic’s data when it is sent with JSON encoding.

Dashboards

Stored data can be represented as time series and other graphics.

Node-RED

Any kind of processing rule over the stored data, with the Node-RED plugin.

Update, 2026: products now give MQTT devices API resources, so they get the same REST API as IOTMP devices and work in the API explorer and on dashboards; properties and buckets can also be fed from an MQTT topic. See Fleet management.

Connect your MQTT devices

The built-in broker sits next to IOTMP, HTTP, LoRaWAN and Sigfox in the same console.

See how devices connectRead the MQTT documentation