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QDF vs QUAL: Differences, Returns & Fees

QDF and QUAL hold 36% of their weight in the same names. Net assets: $2.2bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Northern Trust Quality Dividend ETF, and $49.0bn on Oct 9, 2026 for iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF.

QUAL costs 0.24 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.3 points; QUAL is far larger, $46.5bn against $2.2bn.

QDF vs QUAL: Differences, Returns & Fees
QDFQUAL
Expense ratio0.39%0.15%
Net assets, as of Jul 31, 2026$2.2bn$46.5bn
Total return, 1 year+17.4%+17.1%
What it tracksNorthern Trust Quality Dividend IndexMSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index ?
Holdings in common36%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund39.4%45.7%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 9, 2026.

+17.4%
QDF total return, 1 year
+17.1%
QUAL total return, 1 year
0.39%
QDF expense ratio
0.15%
QUAL expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, QDF and QUAL hold 36% 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 Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 9, 2026.

half

36% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first
Holding QDF QUAL
Apple, Inc. 8.67% 7.03%
NVIDIA Corp. 6.33% 6.49%
Microsoft Corp. 3.97% 8.01%
Lam Research Corp. 2.57% 3.69%
Johnson & Johnson 2.81% 2.04%
Alphabet, Inc. 2.40% 1.97%
KLA Corp. 1.65% 2.57%
Alphabet, Inc. 1.95% 1.54%
Procter & Gamble Co. (The) 2.29% 0.83%
Automatic Data Processing, Inc. 0.75% 1.16%
Eli Lilly & Co. 0.71% 3.65%
Accenture plc 0.70% 0.84%
Only in QDF
Broadcom, Inc. 4.01%
Cisco Systems, Inc. 2.96%
AbbVie, Inc. 2.94%
GE Aerospace 2.62%
JPMorgan Chase & Co. 2.56%
Philip Morris International, Inc. 1.90%
GE Vernova, Inc. 1.44%
Western Digital Corp. 1.27%
Only in QUAL
META PLATFORMS CLASS A 4.62%
TJX 3.41%
APPLIED MATERIAL INC 3.01%
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC CLASS B 1.81%
NETFLIX 1.63%
ARISTA NETWORKS 1.61%
FORTINET 1.35%
MERCK & CO INC 1.35%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

QDF
Northern Trust Quality Dividend ETF
QUAL
iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF
Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF
Issuer Northern Trust iShares
What it is Tracks an index Tracks the MSCI USA Quality Factor
Total return, 1 year +17.4% +17.1%
Expense ratio 0.39% 0.15%
Already in the S&P 500 85.9% 97.2%
Holdings 123 119
Net assets, QDF as of Jul 31, 2026 and QUAL as of Oct 9, 2026 $2.2bn $49.0bn

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

About QDF

QDF tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +17.4% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.39% a year. By its holdings filed for Jul 31, 2026, 86% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 123 positions, with the top ten at 39.4%.

About QUAL

QUAL tracks the MSCI USA Quality Factor. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +17.1% 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 119 positions, with the top ten at 45.7%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, QDF or QUAL?
In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, QDF returned +17.4% and QUAL +17.1%.
Which is cheaper, QDF or QUAL?
QUAL is cheaper, by 0.24 percentage points a year. That is about $24 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do QDF and QUAL overlap with the S&P 500?
By their latest filed holdings, 86% of QDF and 97% of QUAL by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.
Other comparisons
QDF vs VVDIA vs QDFQDF vs SCHBDYNF vs QDFQUAL vs TILTDFSU vs QUALQUAL vs SFLRQUAL vs TMFC
QDF on its own →QUAL on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →Standards and sources →
Where these figures came from
QDF filings on SEC EDGAR ↗QDF prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗QUAL filings on SEC EDGAR ↗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, QDF against QUAL, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qdf-vs-qual

Open data

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