Ternary Mo–Zr–N coatings with different Zr contents were fabricated by magnetron sputtering technique, and characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Nanoindenter and residual stress tester have also been employed to measure the mechanical properties including nanohardness and residual stress of Mo–Zr–N coatings. It is found that both Mo–N and Mo–Zr–N coatings exhibit a face centered cubic (fcc) structure. Ternary Mo–Zr–N coatings present an enhanced nanohardness compared with the binary Mo–N coatings, reaching the maximum hardness of 32 GPa at Zr content of 11.3 at.%. The residual stress of Mo–Zr–N coatings is compressive in nature and increases from 1.1 GPa to 2.1 GPa as the Zr content is increased from 0 to 18.1 at.%. The hardness evolution of Mo–Zr–N coatings with Zr content was investigated in details.