Which paid more, APLY or SPYI?

Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, APLY paid 30.9% of its starting price in cash and SPYI paid 12.2%, so APLY paid more. Cash paid is not the same as money made: the price change matters too.

Which returned more once distributions are counted, APLY or SPYI?

With every distribution reinvested, APLY returned +18.6% and SPYI returned +17.5% over the year to Sep 4, 2026, so APLY returned more.

Which is cheaper, APLY or SPYI?

APLY charges 1.04% a year and SPYI charges 0.68%, so SPYI is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Data as of Sep 4, 2026. Every figure is the income desk's own, on published data.

APLY vs SPYI

Name: ETFIQ comparison of APLY and SPYI
Creator: ETFIQ

YieldMax(R) AAPL Option Income Strategy ETF and NEOS S&P 500(R) High Income ETF, side by side on the income desk.

Open the live comparison on ETFIQ

APLY and SPYI on the income desk fields, as of Sep 4, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
	APLY YieldMax(R) AAPL Option Income Strategy ETF	SPYI NEOS S&P 500(R) High Income ETF
Issuer	YieldMax	NEOS
Strategy	synthetic covered call	covered call
Benchmark	Apple (AAPL)	S&P 500 (SPY)
Pays	weekly	monthly
Payout rate, annualised	26.2%	12.1%
Expense ratio	1.04%	0.68%
Cash paid, 1 year	30.9%	12.2%
Price change, 1 year	−14.8%	+4.2%
Total return, 1 year	+18.6%	+17.5%
Benchmark return, 1 year	+33.9%	+20.0%
Ahead or behind	−15.3 pts	−2.5 pts
Return of capital, latest estimate	92%	93%
Age	1235 days	1466 days

APLY in plain words

Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, APLY paid 30.9% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 14.8%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +18.6%. Apple (AAPL) returned +33.9% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 15.3 pts. At its price on Sep 4, 2026 the latest distribution annualises to 26.2%, paid weekly. YieldMax estimates that 92% of the distribution paid Sep 4, 2026 was a return of capital (19a-1 notice, estimated, a tax characterisation rather than a measure of erosion).

SPYI in plain words

Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, SPYI paid 12.2% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 4.2%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +17.5%. S&P 500 (SPY) returned +20.0% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 2.5 pts. At its price on Sep 4, 2026 the latest distribution annualises to 12.1%, paid monthly. NEOS estimates that 93% of the distribution paid Jun 18, 2026 was a return of capital (19a-1 notice, estimated, a tax characterisation rather than a measure of erosion).

Questions people ask

Which paid more, APLY or SPYI?: Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, APLY paid 30.9% of its starting price in cash and SPYI paid 12.2%, so APLY paid more. Cash paid is not the same as money made: the price change matters too.
Which returned more once distributions are counted, APLY or SPYI?: With every distribution reinvested, APLY returned +18.6% and SPYI returned +17.5% over the year to Sep 4, 2026, so APLY returned more.
Which is cheaper, APLY or SPYI?: APLY charges 1.04% a year and SPYI charges 0.68%, so SPYI is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Other comparisons

Cite this page. ETFIQ, APLY against SPYI, data as of Sep 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/income/APLY-SPYI.html Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.

ETFIQ is an independent publisher of exchange-traded fund data. It is not a fund issuer, broker-dealer or investment adviser, and it makes no recommendations; every figure here is stated arithmetic on published data. Standards and sources