# What is an actively managed ETF?

> As of Nov 4, 2026, 1,200 ETFs are actively managed and 1,422 follow an index, among the core stock, bond and commodity funds ETFIQ covers.

Data as of Nov 4, 2026. Rebuilt every trading night.

## What is an actively managed ETF?

Data as of Nov 4, 2026. Rebuilt every trading night.

As of Nov 4, 2026, 1,200 ETFs are actively managed and 1,422 follow an index, among the core stock, bond and commodity funds ETFIQ covers.

### In plain words

An active ETF has a manager who chooses what to own and when to trade. An index ETF follows a published list and changes only when the index does. Both trade on an exchange and publish their holdings.

Active funds usually charge more, and their results depend on the manager’s choices as well as the market. ETFIQ reads each fund’s documents to say which kind it is, then shows its gap to its named benchmark over a year and what it charged.

### Questions

Do active ETFs cost more? Usually. Look at the expense ratio on each fund page and compare it with the benchmark fund.

How can I tell if an ETF is active? Its prospectus says whether it follows an index. ETFIQ shows the answer on the fund page with the source.

Do active ETFs beat their benchmark? Some do in one year and not the next. ETFIQ shows each fund’s gap to its benchmark with the window and the date.

### Where to next

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Source: ETFIQ, independent ETF data. Recomputed nightly from public filings and prices.
Cite: ETFIQ, What is an actively managed ETF?, data as of Nov 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/learn/what-is-an-actively-managed-etf
Licence: https://etfiq.com/license/ Data ETFIQ computes is free to use with attribution: ETFIQ (etfiq.com). Issuer data stays under its owner's terms.
HTML: https://etfiq.com/learn/what-is-an-actively-managed-etf