QQQ vs QQQM vs VGT: Which Nasdaq and Tech ETF Should You Own?

QQQ, QQQM and VGT are the three funds people reach for when they want big US tech stocks. QQQ and QQQM come from Invesco and track the Nasdaq-100. VGT comes from Vanguard and tracks the tech sector.

They look alike, but they aren't. Two are the same fund at different prices. The third owns a different set of companies. So we put $10,000 in each at the close on 13 October 2020, QQQM's first day, reinvested every dividend, and checked the result at the close on 27 October 2026. Then we ran QQQ against VGT all the way back to 30 January 2004.

QQQ vs QQQM vs VGT at a glance

The fee row is the cheap one to read: $18 a year on $10,000 at QQQ, $15 at QQQM, $9 at VGT. The rows that matter more are what each fund owns and how much it trades.

What $10,000 became in each

All three more than doubled in six years. VGT came out on top, 20.6% a year against 16.73% for QQQM and 16.67% for QQQ. Most of VGT's lead came this year: it's up 30.75% in 2026 so far, against 17.8% for QQQ.

QQQ vs QQQM: the same fund, two tickers

QQQ launched in 1999. Invesco added QQQM in 2020 as a cheaper copy for long-term holders. Both own the Nasdaq-100 in the same weights. On the study date, both had 8.2% in Nvidia and 7.91% in Apple.

So the only gap in returns should be the fee. QQQM finished $84 ahead on $10,000. That's 0.05% a year. But the gap didn't grow evenly.

The extra came from QQQ's old structure. Until 22 December 2025, QQQ was a unit investment trust, a fund type from the 1990s. It had to hold its dividends as cash until it paid them out, and it couldn't lend its shares for a fee. QQQM could do both. Before the switch, QQQM gained 0.06% a year on QQQ, with a fee gap of 0.05%.

On 22 December 2025, QQQ became a normal ETF and cut its fee from 0.20% to 0.18%. Since then the two have been level, less than 0.01% a year apart. The gap left is 0.03% a year, or $3 on every $10,000.

Why QQQ still exists: trading

Invesco calls QQQ the second most traded ETF in the US. Over the last 30 days it traded about 36.3 million shares a day, roughly $26bn. QQQM traded 3.0 million, about $0.9bn. So QQQ trades 29 times as much money.

• The spread between the buy and sell price is the cost of trading. Invesco puts QQQ's median at 0.00% and QQQM's at 0.01%. If you buy once and hold for years, neither matters. If you trade in and out every week, QQQ's is cheaper.
• QQQ has options expiring every weekday. QQQM's next ones expire on 20 November 2026. On 27 October 2026, 2.2 million QQQ option contracts changed hands, against 4,570 for QQQM. If you trade options on the Nasdaq-100, QQQ is where they are.
• QQQ costs $721.25 a share and QQQM $296.96. If your broker doesn't sell fractions of a share, QQQM is easier to buy in small amounts.

QQQ vs VGT: a different fund

VGT owns only companies in the tech sector, 318 of them. The Nasdaq-100 owns the 100 biggest companies listed on the Nasdaq, whatever they do, except banks and other financial firms. That's a big difference at the top:

VGT doesn't hold Amazon, Tesla, Meta, Alphabet or SpaceX. They aren't tech companies under the sector rules. Amazon and Tesla count as consumer companies, Alphabet and Meta as communication companies. In their place, VGT puts much more into the three biggest tech names. Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft are 44.66% of VGT against 22.34% of QQQ. Chipmakers alone are 38.1% of VGT.

That makes VGT the bigger bet. When chip and software stocks run, it runs harder. When they fall, nothing else in it holds it up.

QQQ vs VGT since 2004

$10,000 put into each at the close on 30 January 2004 was worth $239,898 in VGT and $231,051 in QQQ on 27 October 2026. After almost 23 years, VGT was $8,847 ahead, about 4%. But the lead didn't build up evenly.

From 2004 to 2015, QQQ won 9 of 12 years. From 2016 to 2026, VGT won 9 of 11. Its best year against QQQ was 2026, by 12.95 points. QQQ's best was 2004, by 11.59 points.

The last decade was the chip boom, and VGT is heavy in chips. That's the reason for its run, and it's also the risk. A fund built around a few companies wins big when they do. It doesn't when they don't. Since 2016, QQQ beat VGT only in 2020 and 2023, years when Amazon, Tesla and Meta, which VGT doesn't own, had huge runs.

How far each one fell

In the big falls, they fell together. Both lost more than half in 2008 and about a third in 2022. In the 2022 calendar year, VGT lost 29.7% and QQQ 32.58%. Owning the broader QQQ didn't protect you. Both are stock funds built around the same handful of giants.

The risks

• All three are concentrated. Even QQQ has 46.64% in ten stocks, and VGT has 63.6%. Neither is a substitute for a fund that owns the whole market.
• None of them owns banks, and VGT owns no health care, energy or consumer companies at all. If you already hold an S&P 500 fund, you already own all of these stocks. Adding QQQ or VGT doubles up on them.
• Past winners change. QQQ led VGT for a decade, then VGT led QQQ for a decade. Neither run says much about the next one.
• VGT split 8-for-1 on 21 April 2026. Old charts may show its price at eight times today's. Nothing about the fund changed.

Outside the US

These are US-listed funds. In the UK and the EU, most brokers won't sell them to private investors, because they don't publish the key information document those rules require. The local versions are Nasdaq-100 and tech-sector UCITS ETFs listed in London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam or Milan, often from Invesco and iShares. Compare them the same way: the index, the fee, and how much they trade.

So which one?

• You want the Nasdaq-100 and plan to hold it for years: QQQM, 0.15%.
• You trade the Nasdaq-100 often, or trade its options: QQQ.
• You want a pure bet on tech companies, at the lowest fee: VGT, 0.09%. Know that 44.66% of it is three stocks.
• You already own QQQ: the fee saving from switching is $3 a year on $10,000. Only switch if selling won't land you a tax bill.
• You want the whole US market, tech included: none of these. An S&P 500 or total-market fund does that. Our comparison of VOO, VTI, SPY and QQQ is linked below.