Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
SPY vs SPYI: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, SPY and SPYI finished level, +13.6% against +13.6%, and SPY charges 0.09% to SPYI's 0.68%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $814.8bn for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust and $12.7bn for NEOS S&P 500 High Income ETF.
Pair scorecard
SPY costs 0.59 points a year less; both returned +13.6% over a year; SPY is far larger, $814.8bn against $12.7bn.
| Measure | SPY | SPYI |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +13.6% | +13.6% |
| Price change, 1 year | rose 12.4% | rose 0.8% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 11.4% | |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 99% of the Oct 23, 2026 payment | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | S&P 500 Index | Benchmark: S&P 500, measured through SPY |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.09% | 0.68% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $814.8bn | $12.7bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 98% | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 100% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 38.1% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Sep 9, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026 · 215 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: SPY against VOO, Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026; SPYI against SPY, Sep 9, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026.
SPY returned more: +97.7% to +74.4%. SPYI swung less: 11.8% to 14.8%. SPYI fell less at its worst: −14.8% to −16.9%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | SPY | SPYI | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +97.7% | +74.4% | SPY | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +17.9% | +14.4% | SPY | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +86.9% | +5.4% | SPY | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 14.8% | 11.8% | SPYI | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 9.8% | 8.1% | SPYI | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −16.9% | −14.8% | SPYI | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 99.8% | 68.0% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.0% | 80.6% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 0.78 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 0.96 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.88 | 0.81 | SPY (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.33 | 1.19 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.133 | 0.123 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 1.06 | 0.97 | SPY (slight) | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | VOO | SPY | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.1% a year | −0.6% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.51 | −0.53 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.3% to +0.1% | −2.8% to +1.6% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.15 | −0.87 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.4% | 4.0% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 215 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, SPY and SPYI hold 98% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026.
half
98% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
SPY and SPYI 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.
SPY and SPYI do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. SPY follows S&P 500 Index and SPYI is measured against S&P 500 through SPY.
- Cost. SPY charges 0.09% of assets a year and SPYI 0.68%, a gap of 0.59 points.
- Size. SPY has $814.8bn in net assets and SPYI $12.7bn (net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026); SPY is 64.2 times larger.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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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%.
SPYI
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, SPYI paid 11.9% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 0.8%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +13.6%. S&P 500 (SPY) returned +13.6% over the same days, so a holder was about even. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 11.4%, paid monthly. NEOS estimates that 99% 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 SPY and SPYI in the same category?
- SPY is a stock ETF and SPYI 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, SPY or SPYI?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SPY returned +13.6% and SPYI +13.6%.
- Which is cheaper, SPY or SPYI?
- SPY is cheaper, by 0.59 percentage points a year. That is about $59 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, SPY against SPYI, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/spy-vs-spyi
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). SPY against SPYI. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/spy-vs-spyi
[SPY against SPYI (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/spy-vs-spyi)
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