Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
QUAL vs VONG: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QUAL returned +13.1% to VONG's +1.1%; 42% 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 $47.1bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Russell 1000 Growth ETF.
Pair scorecard
VONG costs 0.09 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 12.0 points.
| Measure | QUAL | VONG |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +13.1% | +1.1% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 4.8%, high on Oct 6, 2026 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index | Russell 1000 Growth Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.15% | 0.06% |
| Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026 | $47.7bn | $47.1bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 42% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 44.5% | 57.6% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and 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; VONG against IWF, Oct 1, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026.
VONG returned more: +618.2% to +444.7%. QUAL swung less: 16.2% to 18.2%. QUAL fell slightly less at its worst: −31.4% to −32.5%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | QUAL | VONG | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +444.7% | +618.2% | VONG | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +13.6% | +16.0% | VONG | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +346.8% | +527.6% | VONG | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 16.2% | 18.2% | QUAL | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 11.2% | 12.3% | QUAL (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −31.4% | −32.5% | QUAL (slight) | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 98.8% | 99.9% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 98.8% | 99.8% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.97 | 0.99 | 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 | 0.80 | VONG (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.09 | 1.19 | VONG (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.126 | 0.151 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.43 | 0.49 | VONG | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | MLRG | IWF | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.6% a year | +0.2% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.59 | 0.76 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −1.4% to +2.6% | −0.3% to +0.7% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.06 | 0.11 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 3.7% | 1.0% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 691 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, QUAL and VONG hold 42% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.
half
42% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
QUAL and VONG on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
QUAL and VONG do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. QUAL follows MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index and VONG follows Russell 1000 Growth Index.
- Holdings in common. 42% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Sep 30, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 QUAL returned +13.1% and VONG +1.1% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 12.0 points.
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%.
VONG
VONG tracks the Russell 1000 Growth. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +1.1% with distributions reinvested, against +0.9% for its benchmark, the Russell 1000 Growth Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.06% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 96% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 373 positions, with the top ten at 57.6%. It sat 4.8% below its high of Oct 6, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, QUAL or VONG?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, QUAL returned +13.1% and VONG +1.1%.
- Which is cheaper, QUAL or VONG?
- VONG is cheaper, by 0.09 percentage points a year. That is about $9 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 VONG, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qual-vs-vong
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