Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
AGG vs BNDI: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, AGG returned −1.4% to BNDI's +0.3%, and AGG charges 0.03% to BNDI's 0.58%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $139.4bn for iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF and $192m for NEOS Enhanced Income Aggregate Bond ETF.
Pair scorecard
AGG costs 0.55 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 1.7 points; AGG is far larger, $139.4bn against $192m.
| Measure | AGG | BNDI |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | −1.4% | +0.3% |
| Price change, 1 year | fell 5.3% | fell 5.4% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 5.7% | |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 38% of the Oct 16, 2026 payment | |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 3.4%, high on Aug 4, 2020 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index | Benchmark: US investment grade bonds, measured through AGG |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.03% | 0.58% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $139.4bn | $192m |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Sep 9, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026 · 215 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: AGG against SCHZ, Jul 22, 2011 to Oct 23, 2026; BNDI against AGG, Sep 9, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026.
BNDI returned more: +16.0% to +11.4%. AGG and BNDI swung about the same: 5.7% and 5.7%. BNDI fell slightly less at its worst: −6.6% to −6.9%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | AGG | BNDI | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +11.4% | +16.0% | BNDI | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +2.7% | +3.7% | BNDI | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −3.8% | −7.7% | AGG | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 5.7% | 5.7% | Tie | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 4.0% | 3.9% | BNDI (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −6.9% | −6.6% | BNDI (slight) | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 97.5% | 101.8% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 97.5% | 95.9% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.94 | 0.98 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.95 | 0.95 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | −0.31 | −0.14 | BNDI | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | −0.44 | −0.20 | BNDI | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.004 | −0.008 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.38 | 0.55 | BNDI | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | SCHZ | AGG | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.1% a year | +0.9% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.23 | 1.56 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.4% to +0.6% | −0.2% to +2.1% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.04 | 0.80 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 1.1% | 1.2% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 215 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, AGG and BNDI hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
AGG and BNDI on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ. Cash paid: distributions over the window, as a share of the starting price.
AGG and BNDI do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. AGG follows Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index and BNDI is measured against US investment grade bonds through AGG.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026).
- Cost. AGG charges 0.03% of assets a year and BNDI 0.58%, a gap of 0.55 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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AGG
AGG tracks an index of US aggregate bonds. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −1.4% with distributions reinvested, against −1.3% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. It sat 3.4% below its high of Aug 4, 2020 on Oct 28, 2026.
BNDI
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, BNDI paid 5.6% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 5.4%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +0.3%. US investment grade bonds (AGG) returned −1.4% over the same days, so a holder was ahead by 1.7 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 5.7%, paid monthly. NEOS estimates that 38% of the distribution paid Oct 16, 2026 was a return of capital (its 19a-1 notice). That is a tax label, not a measure of erosion.
Questions people ask
- Are AGG and BNDI in the same category?
- AGG is a bond ETF and BNDI is an option-income ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
- Which returned more over the last year, AGG or BNDI?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, AGG returned −1.4% and BNDI +0.3%.
- Which is cheaper, AGG or BNDI?
- AGG is cheaper, by 0.55 percentage points a year. That is about $55 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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How this is computed
Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.
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ETFIQ, AGG against BNDI, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/agg-vs-bndi
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). AGG against BNDI. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/agg-vs-bndi
[AGG against BNDI (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/agg-vs-bndi)
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