Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
QUAL vs VOOG: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QUAL returned +13.1% to VOOG's +12.1%; 43% 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 $27.8bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard S&P 500 Growth ETF.
Pair scorecard
VOOG costs 0.10 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 1.0 point; QUAL is 1.7 times larger.
| Measure | QUAL | VOOG |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +13.1% | +12.1% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 4.1%, high on Oct 6, 2026 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index | S&P 500 Growth Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.15% | 0.05% |
| Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026 | $47.7bn | $27.8bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 43% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 44.5% | 60.2% |
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; VOOG against IVW, Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026.
VOOG returned more: +617.2% to +444.7%. QUAL swung slightly less: 16.2% to 18.0%. QUAL and VOOG fell about the same at their worst: −31.4% and −32.0%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | QUAL | VOOG | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +444.7% | +617.2% | VOOG | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +13.6% | +16.0% | VOOG | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +346.8% | +521.0% | VOOG | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 16.2% | 18.0% | QUAL (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 11.2% | 12.2% | QUAL (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −31.4% | −32.0% | Tie | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 98.8% | 99.6% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 98.8% | 99.7% | 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 | 0.81 | VOOG (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.09 | 1.20 | VOOG (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 | 0.50 | VOOG | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | MLRG | IVW | 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 | 0.33 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −1.4% to +2.6% | −0.4% to +0.5% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.06 | 0.06 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 3.7% | 0.9% | 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 VOOG hold 43% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.
half
43% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
QUAL and VOOG on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
QUAL and VOOG do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. QUAL follows MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index and VOOG follows S&P 500 Growth Index.
- Holdings in common. 43% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Sep 30, 2026).
- Cost. QUAL charges 0.15% of assets a year and VOOG 0.05%, a gap of 0.10 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%.
VOOG
VOOG tracks the S&P 500 Growth. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +12.1% with distributions reinvested, against +12.1% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Growth Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.05% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 154 positions, with the top ten at 60.2%. It sat 4.1% below its high of Oct 6, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, QUAL or VOOG?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, QUAL returned +13.1% and VOOG +12.1%.
- Which is cheaper, QUAL or VOOG?
- VOOG is cheaper, by 0.10 percentage points a year. That is about $10 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 VOOG, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qual-vs-voog
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). QUAL against VOOG. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qual-vs-voog
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