# What are practical differences between the Mosquitto vs Mosca (now Aedes) MQTT brokers?

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/what-are-practical-differences-between-the-mosquitto-vs-mosca-now-aedes-mqtt-brokers/36488>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [24 November 2020 21:11 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/what-are-practical-differences-between-the-mosquitto-vs-mosca-now-aedes-mqtt-brokers/36488 "2020-11-24T21:11:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![adamelli](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/adamelli/32/31793_2.png) [@adamelli](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/adamelli)\
**Post date:** [24 November 2020 21:11 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/what-are-practical-differences-between-the-mosquitto-vs-mosca-now-aedes-mqtt-brokers/36488/1 "2020-11-24T21:11:16Z")

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I did a previous project with Mosca, I think. My class ended up having to also use [cloudmqtt.com](http://cloudmqtt.com):  
[https://flows.nodered.org/flow/9a74c7337433d482002d57c3a8bbc883](https://flows.nodered.org/flow/9a74c7337433d482002d57c3a8bbc883)

Now, no longer a formal student, I need an MQTT broker. The deliverable involves an ESP32 connected to more basic microcontrollers like Arduino Nanos. The user will need be able to add more, say, Nano controlled devices. I think this is called horizontal scaling.

Is the new maintained library Aedes, previously Mosca, capable of this? It's really hard to find examples of Aedes that I understand. Should Mosquitto be used instead?

I'm not sure if I'm understanding the post below, but should I really be looking for a broker with **clustering**?  
[https://stackoverflow.com/questions/40229375/mosquitto-vs-mosca-horizontal-scalability-and-resilience](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/40229375/mosquitto-vs-mosca-horizontal-scalability-and-resilience) If the broker should involve clustering, would HiveMQ be a decent choice?

And if those specific questions are too specific, for lifelong learning, what are some practical differences between Mosquitto and Aedes?

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**Author:** ![Paul-Reed](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/paul-reed/32/66906_2.png) [@Paul-Reed](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Paul-Reed)\
**Post date:** [24 November 2020 21:46 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/what-are-practical-differences-between-the-mosquitto-vs-mosca-now-aedes-mqtt-brokers/36488/2 "2020-11-24T21:46:06Z")

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Can you clarify please where node-RED fits into your project.

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**Author:** ![adamelli](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/adamelli/32/31793_2.png) [@adamelli](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/adamelli)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 12:48 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/what-are-practical-differences-between-the-mosquitto-vs-mosca-now-aedes-mqtt-brokers/36488/3 "2020-11-25T12:48:57Z")

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A similar application to this: [User programmed commands](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/user-programmed-commands/35632/18)  
Just instead of controlling a sequence of directions, it's going to be a sequence of something similar.

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**Author:** ![knolleary](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/knolleary/32/3_2.png) [@knolleary](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/knolleary)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 14:53 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/what-are-practical-differences-between-the-mosquitto-vs-mosca-now-aedes-mqtt-brokers/36488/4 "2020-11-25T14:53:19Z")

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How many clients are you intending to have connected to the broker? Unless you're getting into 1000s then there's little point worrying about clustering or horizontal scaling.

A single mosquitto instance is very capable and more than enough for most individual uses.

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**Author:** ![adamelli](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/adamelli/32/31793_2.png) [@adamelli](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/adamelli)\
**Post date:** [25 November 2020 15:00 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/what-are-practical-differences-between-the-mosquitto-vs-mosca-now-aedes-mqtt-brokers/36488/5 "2020-11-25T15:00:27Z")

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Definitely not over 1000. I also miss-applied the idea of horizontal scaling anyway; but thanks for clearing that up! (I thought it was applying new devices, not new clients.)

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/1X/d073cd938eafa2e558d7c2cd59003b3ef4963033.png) [@system](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [24 January 2021 15:00 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/what-are-practical-differences-between-the-mosquitto-vs-mosca-now-aedes-mqtt-brokers/36488/6 "2021-01-24T15:00:28Z")

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