VOO vs QQQ: Which Should You Pick?
QQQ beat VOO in 11 of 14 years from 2012 to 2025, but after its 1999 launch it fell 83% and took until 2015 to recover. Fees, concentration, which to own.
VOO holds the S&P 500, about 500 large U.S. companies across every sector. QQQ holds the Nasdaq-100, the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Because most large technology companies list on Nasdaq and the index leaves out banks and insurers, QQQ is a concentrated growth fund: 68% technology by its index provider’s classification, and 47% in its top ten holdings.
Quick answer
VOO for a core holding. QQQ beat it in 11 of the 14 years from 2012 through 2025, and $10,000 grew to $148,732 in QQQ against $81,803 in VOO from October 2011 to September 2026. Start the clock at QQQ’s 1999 launch and the picture changes: QQQ fell 83% from March 2000 to October 2002, while the S&P 500 fell 47%, and took until 2015 to regain its peak. QQQ’s higher return has come with more concentration and deeper losses, and it charges six times VOO’s fee.
| VOO | QQQ | |
|---|---|---|
| Index | S&P 500 | Nasdaq-100 |
| Expense ratio | 0.03% | 0.18% |
| Holdings | 505 | 102 |
| Top 10 holdings | 38% of the fund | 47% of the fund |
| Technology weight | 37% (GICS information technology) | 68% (ICB technology) |
| Financial companies | Included (12%) | Excluded by the index |
| Trailing 12-month yield | 1.06% | 0.42% |
| Annual return, Oct 2011 to Sep 2026 | 15.10% | 19.80% |
| Annual return, Mar 1999 to Sep 2026 | 8.53% (S&P 500) | 10.88% |
| Volatility, 2011 to 2026 | 13.9% | 17.4% |
| 2022 return | -18.2% | -32.6% |
| Worst decline since 1999 | -55% (2007 to 2009) | -83% (2000 to 2002) |
| Correlation of monthly returns | 0.91 | |
Vanguard and Invesco fund pages, read October 25, 2026. Returns, volatility and declines are Summitward calculations from daily prices and distributions; SPY stands in for the S&P 500 before VOO's 2010 launch.
What the Nasdaq-100 includes
The Nasdaq-100 selects on where a company lists its shares, then weights by market value. It excludes financial companies by rule and admits foreign companies listed on Nasdaq. It has no screen for profitability, valuation or quality. Seven of the nine companies in QQQ’s top ten at October 23, 2026 are also in the S&P 500’s top ten, led by Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft at 6% to 8% of QQQ each; the other two are Micron and AMD. About 96% of QQQ by weight is already inside a total-market fund such as VTI, which our QQQ guide measures from SEC filings. Nasdaq changed the index’s weighting and maintenance rules effective May 1, 2026.
The record depends on the start date
Since October 2011, QQQ’s case looks settled. It returned 19.80% a year from October 2011 to September 2026 against VOO’s 15.10%, and trailed in only three calendar years: 2016, 2021 and 2022. Its worst year, 2022, cost 32.6% against VOO’s 18.2%.
The full record since QQQ’s March 1999 launch includes the end of the dot-com bubble. With dividends reinvested, QQQ lost 83% from March 27, 2000 to October 9, 2002, while the S&P 500, through SPY, lost 47% over the same dates. QQQ did not regain its March 2000 peak until February 2015. Over the whole 27.6 years it still returned more, 10.88% a year to the S&P 500’s 8.53%, but an investor who bought near the 2000 peak waited almost 15 years to break even. Fifteen years of strong results for large technology companies is a record of what happened, and says little about whether it repeats.
A monthly correlation of 0.91 means the two funds usually rise and fall together. QQQ’s volatility, 17.4% against 13.9%, is the difference you feel: larger gains in good years and larger losses in bad ones.
Costs and taxes
QQQ charges 0.18% since its December 2025 conversion from a unit investment trust; VOO charges 0.03%. Invesco’s own QQQM holds the same index for 0.15%, compared on our QQQ vs QQQM page. Both funds are tax-efficient in a brokerage account because both yield little: at the top 23.8% federal rate, taxes on distributions cut ten-year returns by 0.45 points a year for VOO and 0.19 for QQQ, before any shares are sold.
Who should pick which
Pick VOO if you
- Want one low-cost fund for the U.S. large-cap market.
- Want financial, energy and health care companies at market weight.
- Want the smaller losses: 47% to QQQ’s 83% from 2000 to 2002.
Pick QQQ if you
- Want a deliberate overweight to large technology companies.
- Will hold it as a sized tilt beside a broad fund.
- Can hold through a decline like 2000 to 2002 without selling.
Owning both mostly adds weight to the same ten companies. For a three-way view with SCHD, see VOO vs SCHD vs QQQ, and for the case against holding QQQ at all, our QQQ guide.
Sources
- Vanguard, VOO fund page (expense ratio, 505 stocks, returns as of September 30, 2026). S&P 500 top-ten, technology and financials weights from the iShares IVV holdings file, October 22, 2026, used as the index proxy.
- Invesco, QQQ fund page (0.18% expense ratio, 102 holdings and top ten at October 23, 2026; sector weights and returns at September 30, 2026; note on the May 1, 2026 index methodology change).
- Summitward calculations: script and data. QQQ’s since-launch return there, 10.88%, matches Invesco’s published figure.
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