Here is the difference between Unicast Multicast and Broadcast in tabular form. Hence, all these three are different methods of sending messages over a computer network.
Unicast
It sends data from one source to only a single destination. In this case, there is just one sender and one receiver. This types of message are most commonly used on the peer-to-peer network or in a single node topology. where only a single device is directly connected to another device to create a network.
While using the unicast method, a device can send data only to the single destination. If some device needs to send a message to multiple devices, it will have to send multiple unicast messages, each message addressed to a specific device. So, the sender has to send a separate message to each destination device and to do that it has to know the exact IP address of each destination device.
Multicast
It sends data from one device to multiple devices connected to the network. The switch is the best example for multicasting device. This networking device can deliver the data to a particular destination user wants to send.
For example, There are 5 computers connected to the same network and PC1 is trying to send data to PC2 and PC3, then the data will only reach to PC 2 and PC 3, not to the PC 4 and PC 5. Hence, a switch can send data to multiple devices in a network, it is called multicast device.
Broadcast:
It sends data from one device to all the other devices connected to the network. Hub is the best example of a broadcasting device. This networking device cannot deliver data to a particular user in the network. Instead of this, it delivers data to all the connected devices in the network.
For example, There are 5 computers connected to the same network and PC1 is trying to send data to PC2 and PC3. Then the data will not only deliver to PC 2 and PC 3, instead of this the data will also get delivered to all the other nodes connected to the network i.e. ( PC 4 and PC 5). Hence, a hub broadcast data it is also known as a broadcasting device.
Difference between Unicast Multicast and Broadcast in Tabular Form
| UNICAST | MULTICAST | BROADCAST |
| It has only one sender and one receiver | It has one or multiple senders and multiple receivers. | It has one sender and multiple receivers. |
| Sends data from one device to single device | Data can be sent from one device to multiple devices | Data sent from one device to all the other devices in a network. |
| Works on Single Node Topology. | Works on star, mesh, tree and hybrid topology. | Works on star and bus topology |
| Two devices are connected to each other with a single cable. | The switch is an example of a multicast device. | Hub is an example of a broadcast device. |
So, this is all about the difference between unicast multicast and broadcast in tabular form.
