Are BND and QALT in the same category?

BND is a bond ETF and QALT is an alternatives ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.

Which returned more over the last year, BND or QALT?

In the year to Nov 4, 2026, with distributions reinvested, BND returned +0.2% and QALT +6.5%.

Which is cheaper, BND or QALT?

BND is cheaper, by 0.77 percentage points a year. That is about $77 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Across categories

BND vs QALT: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Nov 4, 2026, BND returned +0.2% to QALT's +6.5%, and BND charges 0.03% to QALT's 0.80%.

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Net assets: $167.4bn on Oct 31, 2026 for Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF, and $194m on Jun 30, 2026 for SEI DBi Multi-Strategy Alternative ETF.

BND on its own →QALT on its own →

At a glance

+0.2%

BND total return, 1 year

+6.5%

QALT total return, 1 year

0.03%

BND expense ratio

0.80%

QALT expense ratio

Pair scorecard

BND costs 0.77 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 6.3 points.

BND vs QALT: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	BND	QALT
Return
Measure	BND	QALT
Total return, 1 year	+0.2%	+6.5%
Total return, 52 weeks		+6.2%
Against its benchmark
Measure	BND	QALT
What it tracks	Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index	not published
Treasury bills, 52 weeks		+3.7%
Against cash		2.5 points ahead
Cost and size
Measure	BND	QALT
Expense ratio	0.03%	0.80%
Net assets, BND as of Oct 31, 2026 and QALT as of Jun 30, 2026	$167.4bn	$194m
Holdings
Measure	BND	QALT
Holdings in common	not published
Risk
Measure	BND	QALT
Correlation with the S&P 500’s weekly returns		+0.60
Beta to the S&P 500		+0.31: about 0.31% for each 1%
Its average week when the S&P 500 fell		fell 0.49%
Down-week capture		45.7%
Weeks the S&P 500 fell		26 of 52, by 1.07% on average

Method

Side by side

BND Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF QALT SEI DBi Multi-Strategy Alternative ETF

Where it sits Bond ETF Alternatives ETF

Issuer Vanguard SEI

What it is Tracks an index of US aggregate bonds Multi-strategy

Total return, 1 year +0.2% +6.5%

Its benchmark over the same days +0.2% (AGG) not measured

Gap to its benchmark 0.0 pts vs AGG not measured

Expense ratio 0.03% 0.80%

Holdings 16300 not read by ETFIQ

Net assets, BND as of Oct 31, 2026 and QALT as of Jun 30, 2026 $167.4bn $194m

BND and QALT on the fields both publish, as of Nov 4, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

Alert

About each fund

BND

BND tracks an index of US aggregate bonds. Over the year to Nov 4, 2026 it returned +0.2% with distributions reinvested, against +0.2% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index, measured by the closely related Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year.

QALT

QALT is a multi-strategy fund. ETFIQ measures what every alternatives fund is sold on: whether it moves differently from the stock market. Over the year to Nov 4, 2026, its weekly returns had a correlation of +0.60 with the S&P 500’s and a beta of +0.31, so for each 1% the index moved it moved about 0.31% the same way. The S&P 500 fell in 26 of those 52 weeks, by 1.07% on average. In the same weeks QALT fell 0.49% on average, a down-week capture of 45.7%. Over the same 52 weeks QALT returned +6.2% and a Treasury bill fund +3.7%, so it finished 2.5 percentage points ahead of cash.

Questions people ask

Are BND and QALT in the same category?: BND is a bond ETF and QALT is an alternatives ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
Which returned more over the last year, BND or QALT?: In the year to Nov 4, 2026, with distributions reinvested, BND returned +0.2% and QALT +6.5%.
Which is cheaper, BND or QALT?: BND is cheaper, by 0.77 percentage points a year. That is about $77 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Other comparisons

BND vs LALT BND vs QIS BND vs HFND BND vs QAI AGG vs QALT QALT vs TLT QALT vs SPY IVV vs QALT

Where to next

BIL, the T-bill fund these are measured against →SPY, the S&P 500 fund these are measured against →BND on its own →QALT on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →BND dividend history →BND holdings →QALT dividend history →Standards and sources →

Sources and dates

BND filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

BND prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

Vanguard page for BND ↗

QALT filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

QALT prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

SEI website ↗

Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.

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ETFIQ, BND against QALT, data as of Nov 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/bnd-vs-qalt

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