Best DIVO Alternatives in 2026

This category groups funds positioned as alternatives to DIVO, spanning traditional dividend-growth strategies alongside options-income approaches. The eight funds shown split into two distinct groups: lower-yield, low-cost core dividend holdings like SCHD and DGRO, and higher-yield covered-call or premium-income funds like QYLD, SPYI, and XYLD. Schwab, iShares, and JPMorgan anchor the category in terms of fund size, while NEOS, Global X, Goldman Sachs, and ProShares represent more specialized income-generation strategies with notably higher expense ratios.

• SCHD and DGRO report the lowest expense ratios in the group at 0.06% and 0.08% respectively, but also carry the lowest yields shown (2.98% and 1.90%).
• QYLD posts the highest yield among the funds shown at 12.07%, followed closely by SPYI at 11.64%.
• SCHD dominates the category by size with $121.1B in AUM, roughly 2.6x larger than JEPI, the second-largest fund shown.
• Among the monthly-pay, options-income funds, GPIX carries the lowest expense ratio at 0.29%, well below SPYI (0.68%) and QYLD/XYLD (0.60% each).
• The category average yield of 7.47% is skewed upward by the covered-call funds, since the two traditional dividend-growth funds sit far below that average.

Investors comparing these funds face a tradeoff between current income and total-return potential, since covered-call strategies that generate double-digit yields typically cap upside participation in strong equity markets and may distribute a portion of return as return of capital rather than traditional income. Expense ratios in this category range widely, from 0.06% to 0.68% among the funds shown, which can meaningfully affect net income over time. Distribution frequency (monthly versus quarterly) and underlying index methodology also differ substantially across these funds, so yield comparisons alone may not capture differences in volatility, tax treatment, or how each strategy might behave across different market conditions.

• Strategy mismatch: several funds on this list track a different index or use a different income mechanism than DIVO, so swapping into one changes the exposure — upside participation, payout cadence, and tax character can all shift, not just the ticker.
• Capped upside: covered-call and option-overlay funds in this group keep the option premium in a rally but surrender gains above the strike, so they can trail the very index they write options against.
• Distributions are not contractual: each payout is declared period by period, so the yields on this page can fall without notice when portfolio income, option premium, or fund policy changes.
• Methodology divergence: every fund here follows its own index rules or mandate, so two funds with similar headline yields can hold very different portfolios and diverge sharply in a drawdown — category membership is not interchangeability.
• Screens react after the fact: a fund's place in this list is re-rated only once a dividend cut, strategy change, or asset decline has already shown up in the reported data.

• Universe: a hand-curated peer set, split into close peers (5 here — same core exposure and same income mechanism, so a like-for-like swap) and broader substitutes (a different index, underlying asset, or income mechanism). Every fund is labelled in the Strategy fit column; DIVO itself is excluded.
• Eligibility: active ETFs only — liquidated, delisted, and renamed funds drop out automatically. Leveraged and inverse products are never listed: a daily-reset 2x or -1x fund is not an alternative to a long income position.
• Ranking: assets under management, used only as a fund-size ranking. Never ranked by yield — yields are shown as data, not used to order the list.
• Fit: how each fund's strategy differs from DIVO — and who each one suits — is covered in the strategy notes and FAQ below.