Growth investing has had a choppy start to 2026. The major growth benchmarks are down in the low single digits year-to-date, and some of the biggest names in tech have pulled back meaningfully from their late-2025 highs. For investors with a multi-year horizon, that kind of consolidation is worth understanding in the context of each fund’s structure and cost.
The three ETFs below represent three distinct ways to access large-cap U.S. growth: a Nasdaq-focused vehicle that leans hard into tech and AI infrastructure, a broad market growth index at an almost negligible cost, and a wider Russell 1000 growth fund that adds more diversification across sectors. Each earns its spot on this list for a different reason.
Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ): The Nasdaq-100 Standard
Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) is the most direct way to own the Nasdaq-100, the index of the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq. With $395 billion in net assets, it is one of the most widely traded ETFs in the world, which means tight bid-ask spreads and deep liquidity for investors of any size.
The portfolio is built around the companies leading the current AI infrastructure cycle. Nvidia sits at nearly 9% of the fund, followed by Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Tesla in the top five. Semiconductor and chip equipment names including Broadcom, Micron, AMD, Applied Materials, and Lam Research collectively represent a meaningful share of the portfolio, making QQQ a concentrated bet on the hardware layer of AI computing.
Information Technology alone accounts for roughly 49% of the fund, with Communication Services adding a meaningful secondary allocation. That concentration is both the appeal and the risk. When AI-driven demand is accelerating, QQQ tends to outperform broad market benchmarks. When sentiment shifts against large-cap tech, there is limited defensive ballast. The fund also carries a 0.18% expense ratio, which is modest in absolute terms but higher than the alternatives on this list.
QQQ’s long-term track record reflects the compounding power of owning the Nasdaq-100’s growth leaders — the fund has returned roughly 25% over the past year and 461% over the past decade. The current year-to-date pullback through mid-March 2026 of about 2% mirrors the broader softness in growth equities and sits within the normal range of consolidation the fund has experienced during prior AI-cycle pauses.
Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG): Broad Growth at Near-Zero Cost
Vanguard Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:VUG) tracks the CRSP US Large Cap Growth Index, which pulls from the full large-cap U.S. equity universe rather than limiting itself to Nasdaq-listed companies. The result is a broader portfolio that still leads with the same mega-cap tech names but adds meaningful exposure to financial services, healthcare, and industrials that QQQ structurally excludes.
The expense ratio here is 0.03%, which is about as close to free as a fund can get. The fund manages roughly $336 billion in assets, reflecting its status as one of the most widely held growth vehicles among long-term investors.
VUG’s top holdings mirror QQQ closely: Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft sit at the top, with the three together representing roughly a third of the portfolio. But the differences beneath that surface matter. VUG holds Eli Lilly at nearly 3% of the fund, giving investors exposure to the GLP-1 pharmaceutical cycle alongside the AI infrastructure theme. Visa and Mastercard also appear in the top 15, adding durable growth businesses in financial infrastructure that QQQ’s non-financial screen excludes entirely.
The tradeoff is a slightly different performance profile. VUG has returned about 21% over the past year, trailing QQQ modestly, and is down roughly 6% year-to-date. The broader sector mix can work against the fund in periods when pure Nasdaq momentum is strong, but the added diversification across healthcare and financials reduces single-sector concentration risk.
iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF (IWF): The Widest Net in Large-Cap Growth
iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF (NASDAQ:IWF) tracks the Russell 1000 Growth Index, which applies growth screens to the 1,000 largest U.S. companies. The result is a portfolio of 500-plus positions, making it the most diversified of the three funds here while still maintaining the same mega-cap tech leadership at the top.
The top holdings are familiar — Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft sit at the top of the portfolio, together accounting for roughly a third of the fund, mirroring the leadership seen in QQQ and VUG. What sets IWF apart is what comes next.
IWF’s broader mandate means the fund includes meaningful healthcare weight at 8.3% and industrials at nearly 7%, sectors that are essentially absent from QQQ and underrepresented in VUG. Names like AbbVie, GE Aerospace, and Home Depot appear in the top 20, reflecting a definition of growth that extends well beyond pure technology into businesses with durable earnings across different parts of the economy.
The expense ratio of 0.18% matches QQQ, and the fund carries $116.5 billion in assets. Over the past year, IWF has returned about 20%, and it is down roughly 6% year-to-date, tracking closely with VUG.
The wider holdings list reduces the impact of any single stock’s underperformance, but it also means the fund captures a longer tail of mid-tier growth companies that may not have the same earnings durability as the top 10. Those researching the Russell 1000 Growth benchmark for asset allocation or benchmarking purposes will find IWF the most direct vehicle in this category.
How These Three Funds Compare
QQQ offers maximum concentration in Nasdaq-listed technology and AI infrastructure companies, with the sector tilt that entails. VUG differentiates itself through broader sector diversification and a fee structure that is essentially negligible for long-term holders. IWF provides the widest definition of large-cap U.S. growth, including meaningful healthcare and industrial exposure, within a single liquid vehicle. Investors researching growth ETFs may find it useful to compare these funds against their own benchmarks and asset allocation targets.
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