VOO is the better core fund. QQQ only wins as a Nasdaq-100 bet

Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, VOO, is the better core U.S. stock holding. Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1, QQQ, is the better fund only if the Nasdaq-100 is the point of the purchase.

QQQ charges 0.18% a year, six times VOO's 0.03%. On $10,000, VOO costs $3 a year and QQQ costs $18.

Through the Oct. 22, 2026, close, QQQ led by 2.7 percentage points for the year in share price. The funds tracked their indexes. The lead is not a gap in how they are managed.

Same giants, a different portfolio

VOO tracks the S&P 500 by holding the stocks in the index. QQQ tracks the Nasdaq-100. Under Nasdaq's methodology, that index leaves out financial companies.

85 of QQQ's 100 companies are also in VOO. Counting only the smaller stake in each of those stocks, the two funds overlap by 55.8% of assets.

Financial companies, which the Nasdaq-100 leaves out, were 11.4% of VOO by weight on Sept. 30, 2026, Vanguard reported.

Nvidia is 8.4% of VOO and 8.3% of QQQ. Apple is 7.4% and 7.8%. Microsoft is 5.8% and 6.1%.

In other shared technology stocks, QQQ's stake is much larger. Micron Technology is 1.8% of VOO and 4.4% of QQQ. Advanced Micro Devices is 1.5% and 3.9%. Tesla is 1.5% and 3.1%.

The ten largest companies are 40.7% of VOO and 49.9% of QQQ.

SpaceX is in QQQ and not in VOO. Invesco said it entered the Nasdaq-100 and the fund on July 7, 2026, at 1.27% of the fund. The latest holdings put it at 2.9%. Vanguard wrote on June 10, 2026 that the S&P 500 path for SpaceX is a wait of about a year, subject to a profitability screen.

The extra return belongs to the index, and it has narrowed

The year-to-date figures are share-price returns through Oct. 22. QQQ was up 14.7%, and the Nasdaq-100 was up 14.7%. VOO was up 12.0%, and the S&P 500 was up 11.9%.

On the same share-price basis, QQQ was up 19.9% for the year through June 30 and VOO was up 9.5%, a lead of 10.4 percentage points. By the Oct. 22 close that lead was 2.7 percentage points.

From Sept. 22 to Oct. 22, QQQ fell 5.8% and VOO fell 1.5%. That is what owning the Nasdaq-100 cost in the latest month.

Both funds pay quarterly. The cash each has paid in 2026, divided by its Dec. 31, 2025, closing price, comes to 0.9% for VOO and 0.4% for QQQ. VOO's extra 0.5 percentage points of cash trims the price lead to 2.2 percentage points, without assuming the cash was reinvested.

When QQQ is the right fund

If this is the core U.S. stock holding, take VOO.

Take QQQ if you want the Nasdaq-100 on purpose: no financials, larger stakes in some of the shared technology stocks, and names such as SpaceX that the S&P 500 has not added. The cost of that bet showed up this year, when the lead narrowed and QQQ fell harder than VOO.

Buying both does not cut your stake in the largest stocks. You hold them in each fund, and you pay both fees.