JEPQ vs JEPI: Which ETF Is Better in 2026?

Approximate as of mid-2026; verify with each issuer.

Cost. JEPQ charges 0.35% a year and JEPI charges ~0.35%. On a $10,000 holding that is roughly $35 versus $35 a year. The gap looks tiny, but JEPI keeps a little more of your return every year, and over two or three decades of compounding that difference grows into real money.

Dividend yield. JEPQ yields about ~10.11% and JEPI about ~7-9% (variable). JEPI pays more income today, which matters if you are drawing from the portfolio. If you are reinvesting for growth, total return (price plus dividends) matters more than the headline yield.

Size and liquidity. JEPQ holds about ~$39.6 billion versus JEPI's ~$40 billion. Both are large enough to trade with tight bid-ask spreads, so for a buy-and-hold investor the size gap rarely changes anything in practice; it mostly tells you how widely each fund is already held.

Concentration. JEPQ's largest position is NVDA at about 7.31%, and JEPI's is MSFT at ~2%. They share top names (MSFT, AMZN, NVDA, META), so owning both is less diversification than it looks: you are doubling down on the same companies.

Issuer. JEPQ is run by JPMorgan and JEPI by JPMorgan Asset Management. JPMorgan is known for active and options-overlay ETFs. JPMorgan is known for active and options-overlay ETFs.

JEPQ (Nasdaq-100 (active equity + options overlay)) and JEPI (Actively managed (no index)) give you genuinely different exposure, so this is a choice of what you want to own, not just which is cheaper. A broad-market fund suits a core, long-horizon holding you can size large and forget. A narrower, sector, or growth-tilted fund adds concentration and usually more volatility, which suits a longer time horizon and a higher risk tolerance, and is better used as a satellite position than as your whole portfolio. JEPI's higher yield leans more toward income and steadier names; the other tilts more toward growth and price appreciation.

Holds an actively selected slice of Nasdaq-100 stocks and sells call options against them, turning volatility into a high monthly distribution. The trade-off is capped upside in strong rallies. The headline yield is large but variable, and the fee is 0.35%.

Full JEPQ guide

An actively managed ETF that combines a defensive US large-cap stock portfolio with an options-writing overlay (via equity-linked notes) to generate monthly income. The distribution yield is high but variable, tied to options premiums and market volatility, and the strategy caps upside in exchange for income and lower volatility. Verify current figures on the issuer's site.

Full JEPI guide

• Pick JEPQ if you want Nasdaq-100 (active equity + options overlay) exposure at 0.35%.
• Pick JEPI if you want Actively managed (no index) exposure at ~0.35%.
• Overlap: they share top holdings (MSFT, AMZN, NVDA, META), so owning both adds less diversification than it appears.
• Cost: 0.35% vs ~0.35%, a small but compounding difference.

JEPQ (Nasdaq-100 (active equity + options overlay)) and JEPI (Actively managed (no index)) give you different exposure, so pick by what you want to own, not by which is "better". They overlap heavily, so owning both mostly doubles a fee. Walnut can show the overlap against your real portfolio before you decide.

Both funds lean heavily on NVDA, so understanding that single company explains a lot of what drives either ETF.