---
title: "400G ZR vs ZR+: Choosing the Right Coherent Optic for Your Metro Network"
type: comparison
target_audience: technical
score: 9/10
---

The 400G coherent optic landscape consolidated around two interoperable standards — OpenZR+ MSA's 400ZR and 400ZR+ — and the decision between them is more consequential than a simple reach comparison because the two specifications encode different tradeoffs that affect power consumption, platform compatibility, operational complexity, and the ability to share optical amplification infrastructure with other traffic. Getting this wrong means either paying a significant ongoing power and cost premium for reach capability you will never use, or deploying infrastructure that requires a costly replacement when a new network segment exceeds the 400ZR reach ceiling.

400ZR, defined by the OIF 400ZR Implementation Agreement, uses DP-16QAM modulation at 60 Gbaud to achieve 400G on a single 75 GHz or 50 GHz ITU-T grid channel. The maximum reach for a standalone point-to-point connection — no inline EDFA, no Raman pump, no dispersion compensation — is approximately 120 km on standard SSMF with -20 dBm launch power and a 15 dB OSNR budget. With a single inline EDFA, that reach extends to approximately 300 km. With a properly planned amplified route using multiple EDFA spans of 80 km each, reach to 1,000 km is achievable on low-loss SSMF with appropriate span engineering. The power consumption of a 400ZR QSFP-DD module is approximately 14 to 15 watts, which is notably lower than the 18 to 22 watts of 400ZR+ modules. At a 32-port switch with all QSFP-DD ports populated with coherent optics, the difference is 128 to 224 watts of continuous power draw, which at typical data center PUE and power cost represents $900 to $1,500 per year in operating expense.

400ZR+ is defined by the OpenZR+ MSA and extends the same spectral slot with software-selectable modulation formats: 400G DP-16QAM (identical to 400ZR for interoperability), 300G DP-8QAM for extended reach, 200G DP-QPSK for maximum reach, and 100G DP-BPSK for extremely long haul. The maximum reach at 200G DP-QPSK is approximately 2,000 to 2,500 km on standard SSMF with appropriate amplification — more than double the engineered reach of 400ZR at 400G throughput. The 400G reach on 400ZR+ using DP-16QAM is similar to 400ZR's maximum 400G reach but with more margin because 400ZR+ implementations typically have higher output power and better OSNR sensitivity than the minimum 400ZR specification.

The operational complexity difference between the two standards matters more than most network architects account for at design time. 400ZR is a fixed-modulation, simple-to-configure technology that behaves similarly to direct-detect optics from a management perspective — launch power, receive power, and pre/post-FEC BER are the primary operational parameters. 400ZR+ with selectable modulation requires operational decisions about which modulation format to run on each link, understanding of OSNR budget calculations for each format, and management of a system where reducing modulation order to increase reach also reduces throughput. The OSNR budget requirement for DP-16QAM (approximately 26 dB) versus DP-QPSK (approximately 14 dB) is a 12 dB difference in required OSNR, which translates directly into amplifier spacing and total link budget requirements. Teams that are not comfortable with coherent link budget calculations should not deploy 400ZR+ without the support of a coherent system vendor or a pre-validated optical line system.

Platform-specific validation is substantially more complex for 400G coherent modules than for direct-detect multirate optics. On Arista 7160 and 7280 series platforms with 400G coherent support, the platform requirements for 400ZR include specific firmware versions — EOS 4.26.2 and later for initial 400ZR support, EOS 4.28.0 for full OpenZR+ selectable modulation — and specific provisioning commands that differ from the configuration model for direct-detect optics. The Cisco ASR 9000 with 400G coherent PIDs requires IOS XR 7.5.2 or later for 400ZR support and a licensing activation for the coherent DSP functionality that is separate from the base platform license. On Juniper PTX10000 series, 400ZR coherent requires Junos 22.1R1 and the coherent TSYS-QSFP-400G-ZR PIC. Each of these platform versions introduced known bugs related to coherent module state reporting in DOM that were fixed in subsequent releases, and deploying on the minimum supported version without verifying the bug-fix releases is a source of management plane instability.

Coherent transceivers require operational management practices that differ fundamentally from direct-detect modules. TX power calibration on a coherent link is not set-and-forget: the optimal launch power depends on the total span loss, the EDFA gain setting, the nonlinear noise contribution at different launch powers on DWDM systems with multiple channels, and the target OSNR at the receive end. Overdriving a coherent link — launching at higher power than optimal — increases nonlinear noise from four-wave mixing and cross-phase modulation on multi-channel DWDM systems, degrading OSNR rather than improving it. Coherent link commissioning requires OSNR measurement at the receiver, iterative launch power optimization, and pre-FEC BER confirmation at steady state. This is a two to four hour commissioning process per link versus the fifteen-minute commissioning process for a direct-detect 400G DR4 link.

The 400ZR+ margin value proposition materializes when a network has segments that vary widely in path length and OSNR budget. A metro network with segments of 50 km, 180 km, and 800 km can run all three on the same 400ZR+ module hardware by selecting DP-16QAM for the 50 km segment, DP-8QAM for the 180 km segment, and DP-QPSK for the 800 km segment. The hardware SKU is identical across all three segments. Without 400ZR+ selectable modulation, the 800 km segment would require a different technology (traditional coherent system, transponder, or muxponder) with different hardware and different management integration. The margin on 400ZR+ pays for itself when the network has this reach variability and when the operational team has the coherent expertise to manage selectable modulation — or is willing to develop it.

For a network where all segments are under 400 km on a single-vendor platform with a design assumption of maximum 400G throughput per link and no plans for lower-throughput higher-reach segments, 400ZR with its lower power, simpler operation, and lower module cost ($1,800 to $2,400 for compatible 400ZR QSFP-DD in 2026 versus $2,800 to $3,600 for 400ZR+ QSFP-DD) is the correct choice. The Flexoptix platform-specific EEPROM programming service applies to both 400ZR and 400ZR+ variants, ensuring that the module presents correctly to the target platform's coherent management infrastructure and that DOM data surfaces without requiring vendor-specific software customization on the platform side.
