Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
IAU vs IAUI: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IAU returned +2.7% to IAUI's +0.7%, and IAU charges 0.25% to IAUI's 0.79%.
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Net assets: $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust, and $656m on Oct 27, 2026 for NEOS Gold High Income ETF.
Pair scorecard
IAU costs 0.54 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 2.0 points; IAU is far larger, $60.3bn against $656m.
| Measure | IAU | IAUI |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +2.7% | +0.7% |
| Price change, 1 year | rose 2.7% | fell 10.8% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 12.3% | |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 76% of the Oct 23, 2026 payment | |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026 | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Gold | Benchmark: Gold, measured through GLD |
| Against its benchmark, same days | behind by 1.8 pts | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.25% | 0.79% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $60.3bn | $656m |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
Risk and return
Jun 13, 2025 to Oct 23, 2026 · 71 weekly returns · each against GLDIAU returned more: +16.1% to +8.5%. IAUI swung less: 17.1% to 22.0%. IAUI fell less at its worst: −21.4% to −24.1%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | IAU | IAUI | GLD | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | |||||
| Total return | +16.1% | +8.5% | IAU | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. | |
| Annualized | +11.5% | +6.2% | IAU | Total return as a yearly rate. | |
| Price return | +16.1% | −8.8% | IAU | Price change alone, distributions left out. | |
| Risk | |||||
| Volatility | 22.0% | 17.1% | IAUI | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. | |
| Downside deviation | 15.1% | 13.1% | IAUI | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. | |
| Max drawdown | −24.1% | −21.4% | IAUI | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. | |
| Upside capture | 100.0% | 60.6% | 100.0% | IAU | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. |
| Downside capture | 99.9% | 86.5% | 100.0% | IAUI | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. |
| Beta | 1.00 | 0.75 | 1.00 | IAUI lower | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 0.93 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | |||||
| Sharpe | 0.43 | 0.21 | IAU | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. | |
| Sortino | 0.63 | 0.27 | IAU | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. | |
| Treynor | 0.095 | 0.048 | 0.093 | IAU | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. |
| Calmar | 0.48 | 0.29 | IAU | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. | |
| Against the benchmark | |||||
| Benchmark | GLD | GLD | GLD | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.1% a year | −3.4% a year | 0.0% | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.58 | −0.87 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. | |
| Alpha range | −0.3% to +0.5% | −11.2% to +4.4% | Both include zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. | |
| Information ratio | 0.44 | −0.80 | IAU | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.2% | 7.2% | 0.0% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 71 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
IAU and IAUI 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.
IAU and IAUI do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. IAU follows Gold and IAUI is measured against Gold through GLD.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 IAU returned +2.7% and IAUI +0.7% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 2.0 points.
- Cost. IAU charges 0.25% of assets a year and IAUI 0.79%, a gap of 0.54 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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Its expense ratio is 0.25% a year, for the three months to Jun 30, 2026, as its 10-Q states.
IAU holds gold. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +2.7% with distributions reinvested, against +2.5% for its benchmark, the price of gold. It sat 24.6% below its high of Jan 29, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
IAUI
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IAUI paid 12.6% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 10.8%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +0.7%. Gold (GLD) returned +2.5% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 1.8 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 12.3%, paid monthly. NEOS estimates that 76% of the distribution paid Oct 23, 2026 was a return of capital (its 19a-1 notice). That is a tax label, not a measure of erosion.
Questions people ask
- Are IAU and IAUI in the same category?
- IAU is a commodity ETF and IAUI 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, IAU or IAUI?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and IAUI +0.7%.
- Which is cheaper, IAU or IAUI?
- IAU is cheaper, by 0.54 percentage points a year. That is about $54 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.
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ETFIQ, IAU against IAUI, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-iaui
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). IAU against IAUI. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-iaui
[IAU against IAUI (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-iaui)
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