Which returned more over the last year, ESGU or QUAL?

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ESGU returned +17.3% and QUAL +17.1%.

Which is cheaper, ESGU or QUAL?

Neither: ESGU and QUAL both charge 0.15% a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do ESGU and QUAL overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 97% of ESGU and 97% of QUAL by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Compare their flows Ask IQ about these two funds

ESGU vs QUAL: Differences, Returns & Fees

ESGU and QUAL hold 44% of their weight in the same names. Net assets on Oct 9, 2026: $18.3bn for iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF and $49.0bn for iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF.

Both cost 0.15% a year; their one-year returns differ by 0.2 points; QUAL is 2.7 times larger.

ESGU vs QUAL: Differences, Returns & Fees
	ESGU	QUAL
Expense ratio	0.15%	0.15%
Net assets	$18.3bn	$49.0bn
Total return, 1 year	+17.3%	+17.1%
What it tracks	MSCI USA Extended ESG Focus Index	MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index ?
Holdings in common	44%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	37.8%	45.7%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 9, 2026.

+17.3%

ESGU total return, 1 year

+17.1%

QUAL total return, 1 year

0.15%

ESGU expense ratio

0.15%

QUAL expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, ESGU and QUAL hold 44% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Above 50%, holding both is close to holding one of them twice. Holdings dated Oct 9, 2026.

50%

half

44% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding ESGU QUAL

APPLE 7.25% 7.03%

NVIDIA 7.87% 6.49%

MICROSOFT 5.67% 8.01%

META PLATFORMS CLASS A 2.16% 4.62%

ALPHABET CLASS A 1.93% 1.97%

ALPHABET CLASS C 3.50% 1.54%

ELI LILLY 1.37% 3.65%

VISA CLASS A 1.20% 3.24%

JOHNSON & JOHNSON 0.75% 2.04%

APPLIED MATERIAL INC 0.74% 3.01%

LAM RESEARCH 0.73% 3.69%

EXXONMOBIL HOLDINGS CORP 0.71% 2.31%

Only in ESGU

AMAZON.COM INC 3.69%

BROADCOM INC 2.46%

MICRON TECHNOLOGY 1.69%

TESLA INC 1.60%

ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES 1.50%

JPMORGAN CHASE & CO 1.28%

ABBVIE 0.81%

CISCO SYSTEMS INC 0.75%

Only in QUAL

TJX 3.41%

ROSS STORES INC 1.34%

WALMART 0.96%

GARMIN 0.81%

LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP 0.81%

ILLINOIS TOOL INC 0.69%

CINTAS 0.61%

ULTA BEAUTY INC 0.53%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

ESGU

iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF

QUAL

iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares iShares

What it is Tracks an index Tracks the MSCI USA Quality Factor

Total return, 1 year +17.3% +17.1%

Expense ratio 0.15% 0.15%

Already in the S&P 500 97.4% 97.2%

Holdings 269 119

Net assets $18.3bn $49.0bn

ESGU and QUAL on the fields both publish, as of Oct 9, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

About ESGU

ESGU tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +17.3% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 9, 2026, 97% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 269 positions, with the top ten at 37.8%.

About QUAL

QUAL tracks the MSCI USA Quality Factor. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +17.1% with distributions reinvested. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 9, 2026, 97% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 119 positions, with the top ten at 45.7%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, ESGU or QUAL?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ESGU returned +17.3% and QUAL +17.1%.
Which is cheaper, ESGU or QUAL?: Neither: ESGU and QUAL both charge 0.15% a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do ESGU and QUAL overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 97% of ESGU and 97% of QUAL by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

ESGU vs IVV ESGU vs VOO ESGU vs IWB ESGU vs VV QUAL vs SPHQ MTUM vs QUAL IWV vs QUAL OEF vs QUAL

ESGU on its own →QUAL on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →Standards and sources →

Where these figures came from

ESGU and QUAL filings on SEC EDGAR ↗ESGU prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗iShares page for ESGU ↗QUAL prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗iShares page for QUAL ↗

ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure; a link is not an endorsement. A comparison is not a recommendation.

How this is computed

Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, ESGU against QUAL, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/esgu-vs-qual

Open data

Free to use with attribution for figures ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.