Which paid more, SPYI or YMAX?

Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, SPYI paid 12.2% of its starting price in cash and YMAX paid 40.0%, so YMAX paid more. Cash paid is not the same as money made: the price change matters too.

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

With every distribution reinvested, SPYI returned +17.5% and YMAX returned +3.5% over the year to Sep 4, 2026, so SPYI returned more.

Which is cheaper, SPYI or YMAX?

SPYI charges 0.68% a year and YMAX charges 1.33%, 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.

SPYI vs YMAX

Name: ETFIQ comparison of SPYI and YMAX
Creator: ETFIQ

NEOS S&P 500(R) High Income ETF and YieldMax(R) Universe Fund of Option Income ETFs, side by side on the income desk.

Open the live comparison on ETFIQ

SPYI and YMAX on the income desk fields, as of Sep 4, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
	SPYI NEOS S&P 500(R) High Income ETF	YMAX YieldMax(R) Universe Fund of Option Income ETFs
Issuer	NEOS	YieldMax
Strategy	covered call	synthetic covered call
Benchmark	S&P 500 (SPY)	S&P 500 (SPY), used as a default proxy
Pays	monthly	weekly
Payout rate, annualised	12.1%	40.6%
Expense ratio	0.68%	1.33%
Cash paid, 1 year	12.2%	40.0%
Price change, 1 year	+4.2%	−38.7%
Total return, 1 year	+17.5%	+3.5%
Benchmark return, 1 year	+20.0%	+20.0%
Ahead or behind	−2.5 pts	−16.5 pts
Return of capital, latest estimate	93%	43%
Age	1466 days	961 days

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).

YMAX in plain words

Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, YMAX paid 40.0% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 38.7%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +3.5%. S&P 500 (SPY), used as a default proxy returned +20.0% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 16.5 pts. At its price on Sep 4, 2026 the latest distribution annualises to 40.6%, paid weekly. YieldMax estimates that 43% of the distribution paid Sep 3, 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, SPYI or YMAX?: Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, SPYI paid 12.2% of its starting price in cash and YMAX paid 40.0%, so YMAX paid more. Cash paid is not the same as money made: the price change matters too.
Which returned more once distributions are counted, SPYI or YMAX?: With every distribution reinvested, SPYI returned +17.5% and YMAX returned +3.5% over the year to Sep 4, 2026, so SPYI returned more.
Which is cheaper, SPYI or YMAX?: SPYI charges 0.68% a year and YMAX charges 1.33%, so SPYI is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Other comparisons

Cite this page. ETFIQ, SPYI against YMAX, data as of Sep 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/income/SPYI-YMAX.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