Logo
ScienceStack
Table of Contents
Fetching ...
Sign In

Zigbee vs. Matter over Thread: Understanding IoT Protocol Performance in Practice

Massimo Nobile, Fabio Palmese, Antonio Boiano, Alessandro E. C. Redondi, Matteo Cesana

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive experimental comparison between the two protocols, conducted on a testbed built from commercially available hardware, and highlights that Zigbee and Matter over Thread embody distinct trade-offs between agility, efficiency, and scalability.

Abstract

The widespread adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) has positioned smart homes as paradigmatic examples of distributed automation systems, where reliability, efficiency, and interoperability depend critically on the underlying communication protocol. Among the low-power wireless technologies available for this scenario, Zigbee and Matter over Thread have emerged as leading contenders. While Zigbee represents a mature, non-IP mesh networking solution, Matter over Thread introduces an IP-based architecture designed to unify device interoperability across different ecosystems. However, despite extensive documentation of their design principles, there is a lack of empirical, comparative performance data under realistic network conditions. This paper presents a comprehensive experimental comparison between the two protocols, conducted on a testbed built from commercially available hardware. The proposed methodology focuses on different key performance dimensions, such as scalability, responsiveness, and fault tolerance. The results reveal that Zigbee achieves a lower baseline overhead and faster route recovery, making it more responsive in static small-scale deployments. Matter over Thread, conversely, exhibits superior scalability and robustness, maintaining stable throughput and predictable latency across multi-hop scenarios. Overall, we highlight that Zigbee and Matter over Thread embody distinct trade-offs between agility, efficiency, and scalability.

Zigbee vs. Matter over Thread: Understanding IoT Protocol Performance in Practice

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive experimental comparison between the two protocols, conducted on a testbed built from commercially available hardware, and highlights that Zigbee and Matter over Thread embody distinct trade-offs between agility, efficiency, and scalability.

Abstract

The widespread adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) has positioned smart homes as paradigmatic examples of distributed automation systems, where reliability, efficiency, and interoperability depend critically on the underlying communication protocol. Among the low-power wireless technologies available for this scenario, Zigbee and Matter over Thread have emerged as leading contenders. While Zigbee represents a mature, non-IP mesh networking solution, Matter over Thread introduces an IP-based architecture designed to unify device interoperability across different ecosystems. However, despite extensive documentation of their design principles, there is a lack of empirical, comparative performance data under realistic network conditions. This paper presents a comprehensive experimental comparison between the two protocols, conducted on a testbed built from commercially available hardware. The proposed methodology focuses on different key performance dimensions, such as scalability, responsiveness, and fault tolerance. The results reveal that Zigbee achieves a lower baseline overhead and faster route recovery, making it more responsive in static small-scale deployments. Matter over Thread, conversely, exhibits superior scalability and robustness, maintaining stable throughput and predictable latency across multi-hop scenarios. Overall, we highlight that Zigbee and Matter over Thread embody distinct trade-offs between agility, efficiency, and scalability.
Paper Structure (22 sections, 9 figures, 1 table)

This paper contains 22 sections, 9 figures, 1 table.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Background
  3. Network Layer and Routing Strategy
  4. Adaptation and Transport Layers
  5. Application Layer
  6. Architectural Implications for Performance and Resilience
  7. Related Work
  8. Testbed Setup
  9. Performance Analysis
  10. Overhead and Scalability
  11. Experimental Methodology
  12. Traffic Conditions and Metrics
  13. Results
  14. Latency and Throughput
  15. Experimental methodology.
  16. ...and 7 more sections

Figures (9)

  • Figure 1: Diagram of the two analyzed protocols stacks
  • Figure 2: Sketch of the testbed architecture
  • Figure 3: Diagrams of the implemented topologies (Generated by the OTBR web GUI)
  • Figure 4: Packet rate for the overhead test on a fully connected mesh topology under idle conditions.
  • Figure 5: Packet rate for the overhead test on a chain topology under controlled traffic conditions.
  • ...and 4 more figures