The Growth ETF Scoreboard: What $10,000 Became in the Biggest Growth Funds
VGT, QQQ, VUG and SCHG have turned modest investments into fortunes. We ranked the largest growth ETFs by total return and explain why the scoreboard needs an asterisk.
The short version
- The biggest growth ETFs have compounded at remarkable rates, led by tech-heavy funds like VGT and QQQ.
- Total return since inception rewards age. A fund that launched in 1999 has had far more time than one from 2019.
- Growth funds pay little or nothing. The return comes from price, which means the ride is bumpier.
Income investors look at yield. Growth investors look at one number: how much did my money grow? We pulled total returns for every growth ETF on GrowthETFs.com and asked a simple question. If you had put $10,000 into each of the biggest ones at launch and never touched it, what would you have today?
What $10,000 became
Growth ETFs with more than $10B in assets, total return since inception
Leveraged funds are excluded. Hover a bar to see the total return behind each ending value. Click to open the fund.
At the top sits VGT, Vanguard's technology fund, with a total return of +2,220%. That turns $10,000 into roughly $232,000. QQQ, which tracks the Nasdaq-100 and has been around since 1999, shows +1,550%. The broad growth funds are not far behind: VUG at +1,234% and SCHG at +1,168%.
The asterisk: time
This scoreboard is history, not a fair race. A total return since inception depends heavily on when the fund launched. A fund that started before a decade-long bull market has a massive head start on one that launched near a peak.
That is why you should never pick between two growth funds on since-inception return alone. Compare them over the same period. Our sister site ETFTotalReturns.com has head-to-head matchups built exactly for that.
Size tells you something too
Assets under management is a rough vote of confidence. VUG holds about $197B, and QQQ holds about $400B. Big funds tend to have tight trading spreads and low fees, which matter more than people think over long holding periods. Our expense ratio breakdown shows how much.
Largest growth ETFs
Growth vs. income is not either/or
Growth ETFs pay small dividends, if any. The S&P 500 itself, through VOO, yields just 1.1%. Everything else comes from the share price, which means bigger swings on the way. Income ETFs trade some of that growth for cash now.
Plenty of investors hold both: a growth core that compounds for decades, and an income sleeve that pays the bills. Where you land depends on your timeline. The further you are from needing the money, the more a growth-heavy mix has historically paid off.
Browse every growth fund we track, with fund pages and a swipe tool, at GrowthETFs.com.
How this article was made: Benjie picks every topic based on what he finds useful as a dividend investor and what readers ask about. Parts of this article were drafted with help from AI tools, then edited, fact-checked and shaped by Benjie. All fund numbers come from the TopETFs database and update daily.
Disclaimer: TopETFs.com is published by Dividend Empire LLC for educational and entertainment purposes only. We are not financial advisors, and nothing on this site is financial advice, a recommendation, or a solicitation to buy or sell any security. ETF data is compiled from public sources and fund issuers, may be delayed, inaccurate or outdated, and may differ from the fund sponsor's own figures. Yields are trailing distribution yields, are not guaranteed, and distributions may include return of capital, which reduces your cost basis and is not a measure of performance. Total returns are since each fund's inception unless noted and are not comparable across funds with different start dates. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investing carries risk, including loss of principal. Read each fund's prospectus and consult a licensed financial advisor before investing. Dividend Empire LLC receives compensation from ETF issuers for sponsored placements, which are labeled as such.
