Best IAUI Alternatives in 2026

The "Best IAUI Alternatives in 2026" category blends traditional physical gold trusts with newer options-income strategies built around gold exposure. Among the seven funds shown, GLD, IAU, and GLDM represent the established, low-cost route to gold price exposure with no distribution yield reported, while IGLD, KGLD, YGLD, and GOLI are income-oriented products using derivative strategies to generate monthly or weekly payouts. Issuer representation spans legacy players like State Street and iShares alongside newer entrants such as Kurv, Simplify ETFs, and Defiance ETFs, reflecting a broader trend of firms layering income strategies on top of established commodity exposures.

• GLD, IAU, and GLDM show yield as not reported, consistent with their structure as physical gold trusts rather than income-generating vehicles.
• Among the income-paying funds shown, GOLI carries the highest yield at 21.94%, paired with the highest expense ratio in the category at 1.04%.
• Among the monthly-pay funds shown (IGLD, KGLD, YGLD), YGLD has the lowest expense ratio at 0.62%, while KGLD has the highest at 0.99%.

• Strategy mismatch: several funds on this list track a different index or use a different income mechanism than IAUI, 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.
• Distribution sustainability: the average distribution rate here is 9.0%, and payouts at that level often include return of capital — when distributions persistently exceed total return, NAV erodes and shrinks the base that generates future income.
• Concentration in one theme: most funds here focus on gold, so the whole list tends to draw down together when that corner of the market falls out of favor — diversification across the table is lower than the fund count suggests.
• Expense drag: expense ratios in this group average 0.61% — several times what broad index funds charge — and that cost compounds directly against total return.

• Universe: a hand-curated peer set, split into close peers (4 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; IAUI 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 IAUI — and who each one suits — is covered in the strategy notes and FAQ below.