| SFP | 1 Gb/s to 2.5 Gb/s | Single-mode fiber, multimode fiber, or copper twisted pair | 850 nm, 1310 nm, 1550 nm, or electrical signaling | Up to 100 km for selected single-mode variants | Duplex LC, simplex LC, or RJ45 | 1G Ethernet, SONET/SDH, or Fibre Channel host ports | 1000BASE-SX, 1000BASE-LX, 1000BASE-T, and related variants | Enterprise switches, access networks, storage networks, and telecommunications equipment |
| SFP+ | 10 Gb/s | Multimode fiber, single-mode fiber, or direct-attach copper | 850 nm, 1310 nm, 1550 nm, or passive copper signaling | Up to 10 km for common 10G single-mode variants; copper DACs are generally short reach | Duplex LC or SFP+ direct-attach cable | 10G serial electrical interface | 10GBASE-SR, 10GBASE-LR, 10GBASE-ER, and SFP+ DAC | Data-center top-of-rack switches, server connections, aggregation, and storage networks |
| SFP28 | 25 Gb/s | Multimode fiber, single-mode fiber, or direct-attach copper | 850 nm for SR; 1310 nm for LR; passive copper for DAC | Up to 70 m on OM3 or 100 m on OM4 for common 25G-SR; up to 10 km for 25G-LR | Duplex LC or SFP28 direct-attach cable | 25G serial electrical interface | 25GBASE-SR, 25GBASE-LR, and SFP28 DAC | Server-to-switch links, leaf-spine networks, and high-density data centers |
| QSFP+ | 40 Gb/s | Multimode fiber, single-mode fiber, or direct-attach copper | Parallel 850 nm, 1310 nm, or copper signaling | Up to 100 m on OM3 or 150 m on OM4 for common SR4 variants; up to 10 km for LR4 | MPO/MTP for parallel optics or duplex LC for duplex optics | Four-lane electrical interface | 40GBASE-SR4, 40GBASE-LR4, and QSFP+ DAC | Switch uplinks, aggregation networks, and data-center interconnects |
| QSFP28 | 100 Gb/s | Multimode fiber, single-mode fiber, or direct-attach copper | 850 nm for SR4; 1310 nm for DR/FR/LR variants | Up to 70 m on OM3 or 100 m on OM4 for SR4; 500 m for DR; 2 km for FR; 10 km for LR | MPO/MTP for parallel optics or duplex LC for duplex optics | Four-lane 25G electrical interface | 100GBASE-SR4, 100GBASE-DR, 100GBASE-FR, and 100GBASE-LR4 | Leaf-spine switching, data-center aggregation, and metro-network connections |
| QSFP56 | 200 Gb/s | Multimode fiber, single-mode fiber, or direct-attach copper | 850 nm for SR4; 1310 nm for DR4 or FR4 variants | Up to 70 m on OM3 or 100 m on OM4 for common SR4 variants; selected single-mode variants reach 2 km | MPO/MTP or duplex LC, depending on the optical design | Four-lane 50G electrical interface | 200GBASE-SR4, 200GBASE-DR4, and 200GBASE-FR4 | High-performance computing, data-center spine links, and server aggregation |
| QSFP-DD | 200 Gb/s to 800 Gb/s | Multimode fiber, single-mode fiber, or direct-attach copper | 850 nm for short-reach optics; 1310 nm for DR, FR, and LR families | Common 400G variants reach 100 m on OM4, 500 m for DR4, 2 km for FR4, or 10 km for LR4 | MPO/MTP, duplex or dual-duplex LC, or high-speed copper cable | Eight-lane electrical interface; lane rate depends on the generation | 400GBASE-SR8, 400GBASE-DR4, 400GBASE-FR4, 400GBASE-LR4, and 800G variants | High-density data centers, artificial-intelligence clusters, cloud infrastructure, and spine networks |
| OSFP | 400 Gb/s to 800 Gb/s | Multimode fiber, single-mode fiber, or direct-attach copper | 850 nm for short-reach designs; 1310 nm for several single-mode designs | Depends on the optical variant; common reaches include 100 m, 500 m, 2 km, and 10 km | MPO/MTP, duplex LC, or high-speed copper cable | Eight-lane high-speed electrical interface | 400GBASE-SR8, 400GBASE-DR4, 400GBASE-FR4, 400GBASE-LR4, and 800G variants | Ultra-high-bandwidth switching, cloud data centers, high-performance computing, and network backbones |
| Coherent Pluggable Module | 100 Gb/s to 800 Gb/s and beyond | Single-mode fiber | Coherent wavelength-selective optical signaling, commonly in the C-band | From tens of kilometers to several hundred kilometers, depending on modulation, fiber quality, amplification, and network design | Usually duplex LC or a vendor-defined optical line interface | High-speed host electrical interface with digital signal processing | Coherent Ethernet, OTN, and open line-system interoperability profiles | Metro networks, data-center interconnects, regional transport, and long-haul optical networks |
| Copper SFP/SFP+ Module | 1 Gb/s or 10 Gb/s | Category-rated twisted-pair copper cable | Electrical signaling | Typically up to 100 m when the required Ethernet cabling category and installation conditions are met | RJ45 | Serial SFP or SFP+ electrical host interface | 1000BASE-T or 10GBASE-T | Short-distance switch connections, legacy copper infrastructure, and equipment migration |
| Direct-Attach Copper Cable | 10 Gb/s to 800 Gb/s, depending on the cable and module generation | Twinaxial copper cable | Electrical differential signaling | Commonly 1 m to 5 m; some active copper designs support longer distances | Integrated SFP+, SFP28, QSFP, QSFP28, QSFP56, QSFP-DD, or OSFP ends | Multi-lane or single-lane high-speed electrical interface | SFP+ DAC, SFP28 DAC, QSFP28 DAC, QSFP-DD DAC, and related forms | In-rack switch-to-server links, switch stacking, and short data-center connections |