Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
QQQ vs QQQI: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QQQ returned +15.2% to QQQI's +11.9%, and QQQ charges 0.18% to QQQI's 0.68%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $483.0bn for Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 and $15.4bn for NEOS Nasdaq-100 High Income ETF.
Pair scorecard
QQQ costs 0.50 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 3.3 points; QQQ is far larger, $483.0bn against $15.4bn.
| Measure | QQQ | QQQI |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +15.2% | +11.9% |
| Price change, 1 year | rose 14.6% | fell 2.8% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 14.1% | |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 100% of the Oct 23, 2026 payment | |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 4.5%, high on Oct 6, 2026 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Nasdaq-100 Index | Benchmark: Nasdaq-100, measured through QQQ |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.18% | 0.68% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $483.0bn | $15.4bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 97% | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 96% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 46.7% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Feb 9, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026 · 141 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: QQQ against QQQM, Oct 23, 2020 to Oct 23, 2026; QQQI against QQQ, Feb 9, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026.
QQQ returned more: +63.5% to +52.7%. QQQI swung less: 16.0% to 19.9%. QQQI fell less at its worst: −18.4% to −21.3%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | QQQ | QQQI | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +63.5% | +52.7% | QQQ | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +19.9% | +16.9% | QQQ | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +61.2% | +3.2% | QQQ | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 19.9% | 16.0% | QQQI | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 13.0% | 10.8% | QQQI | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −21.3% | −18.4% | QQQI | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 100.4% | 69.5% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.2% | 85.4% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 0.79 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 0.98 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.79 | 0.79 | Tie | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.22 | 1.16 | QQQ (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.145 | 0.158 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.93 | 0.92 | Tie | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | QQQM | QQQ | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.1% a year | 0.0% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.58 | 0.01 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.4% to +0.2% | −3.0% to +3.0% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.10 | −0.67 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.4% | 4.8% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 141 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, QQQ and QQQI hold 97% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026.
half
97% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
QQQ and QQQI 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.
QQQ and QQQI do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. QQQ follows Nasdaq-100 Index and QQQI is measured against Nasdaq-100 through QQQ.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 QQQ returned +15.2% and QQQI +11.9% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 3.3 points.
- Cost. QQQ charges 0.18% of assets a year and QQQI 0.68%, a gap of 0.50 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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QQQ
QQQ tracks the Nasdaq-100. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +15.2% with distributions reinvested, against +15.2% for its benchmark, the Nasdaq-100 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.18% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 96% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 103 positions, with the top ten at 46.7%. It sat 4.5% below its high of Oct 6, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
QQQI
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QQQI paid 13.7% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 2.8%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +11.9%. Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) returned +15.2% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 3.3 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 14.1%, paid monthly. NEOS estimates that 100% 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 QQQ and QQQI in the same category?
- QQQ is a stock ETF and QQQI 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, QQQ or QQQI?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, QQQ returned +15.2% and QQQI +11.9%.
- Which is cheaper, QQQ or QQQI?
- QQQ is cheaper, by 0.50 percentage points a year. That is about $50 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Links are sources, not endorsements. 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.
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ETFIQ, QQQ against QQQI, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qqq-vs-qqqi
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). QQQ against QQQI. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qqq-vs-qqqi
[QQQ against QQQI (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qqq-vs-qqqi)
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