Data as of Sep 12, 2026. Both funds on the fields they both publish, from the same sources.
QUAL vs VTI: how they differ
QUAL and VTI hold 41% of their weight in the same names, and VTI returned more over the year.
iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF and Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund.
What they hold in common
By the books each fund has filed, QUAL and VTI hold 41% of their money in the same securities at the same weight.
| Holding | QUAL | VTI |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA CORPORATION | 6.52% | 6.37% |
| APPLE INC. | 6.28% | 5.88% |
| MICROSOFT CORPORATION | 5.05% | 3.84% |
| ALPHABET INC. | 2.54% | 2.90% |
| ALPHABET INC. | 2.12% | 2.29% |
| META PLATFORMS, INC. | 3.50% | 1.71% |
| ELI LILLY AND COMPANY | 2.92% | 1.41% |
| BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC. | 2.12% | 1.25% |
| JOHNSON & JOHNSON | 1.92% | 0.85% |
| APPLIED MATERIALS, INC. | 2.45% | 0.80% |
| VISA INC. | 3.09% | 0.77% |
| LAM RESEARCH CORPORATION | 3.23% | 0.75% |
| Only in QUAL | Only in VTI |
|---|---|
| Amazon.com Inc 3.19% | |
| Broadcom Inc 2.48% | |
| Micron Technology Inc 1.80% | |
| Tesla Inc 1.64% | |
| Advanced Micro Devices Inc 1.31% | |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co 1.12% | |
| Exxon Mobil Corp 0.79% | |
| Intel Corp 0.78% |
Weight overlap is an ETFIQ calculation: for every security both funds hold, the smaller of the two weights, summed. Above 50%, holding both is close to holding one of them twice. Holdings dated Apr 30, 2026 and Jun 30, 2026.
| QUAL iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF | VTI Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it sits | Core index fund | Core index fund |
| Issuer | iShares | Vanguard |
| What it is | MSCI USA Quality Factor | US total market |
| Total return, 1 year | +16.0% | +17.2% |
| S&P 500 over the same days | +17.5% | +17.5% |
| Gap to the S&P 500 | −1.5 pts | −0.3 pts |
| Expense ratio | 0.15% | 0.03% |
| Already in the S&P 500 | 98.9% | 88.3% |
| Holdings | 121 | 3531 |
QUAL in plain words
QUAL is an index equity fund tracking the MSCI USA Quality Factor. Over the year to Sep 11, 2026 it returned +16.0% with distributions reinvested, against +17.5% for the S&P 500 and +23.0% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. By its holdings filed for Apr 30, 2026, 99% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 121 positions, with the top ten at 39.1%. It sat 3.1% below its high of Aug 13, 2026 on Sep 11, 2026.
VTI in plain words
VTI is an index equity fund tracking the US total market. Over the year to Sep 11, 2026 it returned +17.2% with distributions reinvested, against +17.5% for the S&P 500 and +23.0% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. By its holdings filed for Jun 30, 2026, 88% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 3531 positions, with the top ten at 32.1%.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, QUAL or VTI?
- In the year to Sep 12, 2026, with distributions reinvested, QUAL returned +16.0% and VTI returned +17.2%, so VTI returned more. One year is one year; the longer windows are in the table.
- Which is cheaper, QUAL or VTI?
- QUAL charges 0.15% a year and VTI charges 0.03%, so VTI is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
- How much do QUAL and VTI overlap with the S&P 500?
- By their latest filed holdings, 99% of QUAL and 88% of VTI by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds. Between the two funds, 41% of their books are the same securities at the same weight.
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Where these figures came from
ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure. It is not affiliated with any issuer, and a link is not an endorsement.
Cite this page. ETFIQ, QUAL against VTI, data as of Sep 12, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/QUAL-VTI Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.
A comparison is not a recommendation. Standards and sources