This application provides a communication method that includes grouping a plurality of clients to obtain at least two device groups, where each of the at least two device groups includes at least two clients. The method further includes receiving a publish request sent by a first client, where the publish request includes first data that corresponds to a first topic. The publish request is used to request a message queue telemetry transport (MQTT) server to publish the first data. After it is determined that a first device group to which the first client belongs from the at least two device groups, a publish message that includes the first data is sent to a second client in the first device group.