Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
QUAL vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QUAL returned +13.1% to SPY's +13.6%; 45% of their weight is in the same names.
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Net assets: $48.2bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF, and $814.8bn on Oct 27, 2026 for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.
Pair scorecard
SPY costs 0.06 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.5 points; SPY is 16.8 times larger.
| Measure | QUAL | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +13.1% | +13.6% |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index | S&P 500 Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.15% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 26, 2026 | $48.3bn | $810.0bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 45% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 44.5% | 38.1% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Jul 26, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026 · 691 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: QUAL against MLRG, Jul 26, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026; SPY against VOO, Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026.
SPY returned slightly more: +462.3% to +444.7%. QUAL and SPY swung about the same: 16.2% and 16.0%. QUAL and SPY fell about the same at their worst: −31.4% and −31.8%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | QUAL | SPY | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +444.7% | +462.3% | SPY (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +13.6% | +13.9% | Tie | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +346.8% | +349.4% | Tie | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 16.2% | 16.0% | Tie | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 11.2% | 11.1% | Tie | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −31.4% | −31.8% | Tie | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 98.8% | 99.8% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 98.8% | 100.0% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.97 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.95 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.75 | 0.77 | SPY (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.09 | 1.12 | SPY (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.126 | 0.133 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.43 | 0.44 | Tie | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | MLRG | VOO | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.6% a year | −0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.59 | −0.51 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −1.4% to +2.6% | −0.3% to +0.1% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.06 | −0.15 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 3.7% | 0.4% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 691 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, QUAL and SPY hold 45% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.
half
45% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
QUAL and SPY on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
QUAL and SPY are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?
- What each follows. QUAL follows MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index and SPY follows S&P 500 Index.
- Holdings in common. 45% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
- Number of holdings. QUAL holds 119 positions and SPY holds 504.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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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%.
SPY
SPY tracks the S&P 500. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.6% with distributions reinvested, against +13.7% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 504 positions, with the top ten at 38.1%.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, QUAL or SPY?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, QUAL returned +13.1% and SPY +13.6%.
- Which is cheaper, QUAL or SPY?
- SPY is cheaper, by 0.06 percentage points a year. That is about $6 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, QUAL against SPY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qual-vs-spy
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