GBIC vs SFP vs SFP+ vs XFP, what is the difference?

GBIC, SFP, SFP+, and XFP are all terms for transceiver optics that plug into a particular port on a switch, router, or other network device to convert the port to a copper or fiber interface. The commonly used SFP, SFP+, and XFP all have an LC connector. SFP and SFP+ have an identical pinout that is different from XFP optics. SFP+ and XFP have the DDM function as a default, whereas SFP partly supports the DDM function.

Comparison: SFP vs GBIC vs SFP+ vs XFP

Figure 1   A Typical SFP vs SFP+ vs XFP Module

SFP vs SFP+ (SFP Plus), What is the difference?

SFP and SFP+ have a similar form factor dimension; hence, they look identical. SFP optics usually support 155Mb/s, 1.25Gb/s to 4.25Gb/s, while SFP+ ones support data rates up to 8.5Gb/s and 10Gb/s.

SFP is for Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet,1x/2x/4x Fiber Channel, and SDH/SONET with data rate below 2.488Gb/s applications.

SFP+ for 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 10G SDH/SONET applications. SFP is compliant with IEEE802.3, INF-8074, and SFF-8472, while SFP+ is compliant with the protocol of IEEE 802.3ae, SFF-8431, and SFF-8432.

XFP vs SFP+, What is the difference?

XFP is a separate standard that also supports 10Gb/s speeds for applications such as 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gbit /s Fibre Channel, Synchronous optical networking (SONET) at OC-192 rates, Synchronous optical networking STM-64, 10 Gbit /s Optical Transport Network (OTN) OTU-2.

The primary difference between SFP+ and the slightly older XFP standard is that SFP+ without the chip for clock and data recovery is smaller than an XFP, enabling greater port density.

However, some SFP+ optics manufacturers, like Optcore, have developed SFP+ with CDR for special applications. XFP is defined by the XFP Multi-Source Agreement, which is different from the SFP+ MSA. Since SFP+ has a smaller dimension than XFP, which provides a higher port density in switches and routers, it is becoming increasingly popular.