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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, GLD returned +2.5% and QUAL +13.1%.

Which is cheaper, GLD or QUAL?

QUAL is cheaper, by 0.25 percentage points a year. That is about $25 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

GLD vs QUAL: Differences, Returns & Fees

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GLD is a commodity fund and QUAL an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QUAL returned +13.1% against +2.5%.

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Net assets: $135.8bn on Oct 27, 2026 for SPDR Gold Shares, and $48.2bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF.

GLD on its own →QUAL on its own →

At a glance

+2.5%

GLD total return, 1 year

+13.1%

QUAL total return, 1 year

0.40%

GLD expense ratio

0.15%

QUAL expense ratio

Pair scorecard

QUAL costs 0.25 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 10.6 points; GLD is 2.8 times larger.

GLD vs QUAL: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	GLD	QUAL
Return
Measure	GLD	QUAL
Total return, 1 year	+2.5%	+13.1%
Drawdown
Measure	GLD	QUAL
Below its high	24.7%, high on Jan 29, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	GLD	QUAL
What it tracks	Gold	MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index
Cost and size
Measure	GLD	QUAL
Expense ratio	0.40%	0.15%
Net assets, as of Oct 26, 2026	$134.6bn	$48.3bn
Holdings
Measure	GLD	QUAL
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight		97%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund		44.5%

Method

Side by side

GLD SPDR Gold Shares QUAL iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF

Where it sits Commodity ETF Stock ETF

Issuer State Street iShares

What it is Holds gold Tracks the MSCI USA Quality Factor

Total return, 1 year +2.5% +13.1%

Its benchmark over the same days +2.7% (IAU) +13.6% (MLRG)

Gap to its benchmark −0.2 pts vs IAU −0.5 pts vs MLRG

Expense ratio 0.40% 0.15%

Holdings not counted 119

Net assets, GLD as of Oct 27, 2026 and QUAL as of Oct 28, 2026 $135.8bn $48.2bn

GLD and QUAL on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

Alert

About each fund

GLD

Its expense ratio is 0.40% a year, for the three months to Jun 30, 2026, as its 10-Q states.

GLD holds gold. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +2.5% with distributions reinvested, against +2.7% for its benchmark, the price of gold. It sat 24.7% below its high of Jan 29, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

QUAL

QUAL tracks the MSCI USA Quality Factor. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.1% with distributions reinvested, against +13.6% for its benchmark, the MSCI USA Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 97% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 119 positions, with the top ten at 44.5%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, GLD or QUAL?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, GLD returned +2.5% and QUAL +13.1%.
Which is cheaper, GLD or QUAL?: QUAL is cheaper, by 0.25 percentage points a year. That is about $25 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Other comparisons

GLD vs IWB GLD vs SCHB GLD vs SCHX GLD vs ITOT IAU vs QUAL GLDM vs QUAL QUAL vs SLV QUAL vs SIVR

Where to next

GLD on its own →QUAL on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →QUAL dividend history →QUAL holdings →Standards and sources →

Sources and dates

State Street website ↗

QUAL filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

QUAL prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for QUAL ↗

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

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, GLD against QUAL, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/gld-vs-qual

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