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Every month, tens of thousands of investors come to ETF.com not to read about ETFs—but to compare them head to head. The ETF Comparison Tool lets users stack any two (or three) funds side by side across costs, performance, holdings, and flows. Over the last 28 days, 96,861 users ran a pure ticker-vs-ticker comparison on our tool. What they searched tells a story about where investor attention—and anxiety—is right now.

Nothing comes close. The single most-searched matchup on the entire site is SMH vs. SOXX, with 2,478 active users—more than double the next most popular pair. Semiconductor ETFs dominate the top of the list in a way no other category does.

The matchup map is deep: SMH vs. QQQ (1,153 users), SMH vs. SOXQ (896), SOXQ vs. SOXX (708), QQQ vs. SOXX (367), SOXL vs. SOXX (367), SMH vs. CHPS (193), DRAM vs. SMH (151). When you add up every comparison that includes a semiconductor ETF, it's the most-trafficked category on the tool by a wide margin—likely north of 9,000 users in the period.

The debate isn't just VanEck vs. iShares. Investors are drilling down: broad semis vs. leveraged semis, pure-play chip designers vs. the full supply chain, large-cap leaders vs. smaller names in PSI and FTXL. The semiconductor trade is alive, contested, and highly researched.

The second biggest storyline is a four-way fight between SCHG, VUG, QQQM, and QQQ. Investors are trying to figure out which growth ETF deserves the core slot in their portfolio—and they're not finding an obvious answer.

SCHG vs. QQQM drew 917 users. QQQM vs. VGT pulled 809. QQQ vs. VUG got 743. VUG vs. QQQM attracted 717. SCHG vs. VUG: 620. VUG vs. VGT: 587. QQQ vs. VGT: 581. The three-way matchup VUG vs. QQQM vs. SCHG added another 459.

What's notable is how often SCHG appears. Schwab's large-cap growth fund has quietly become a serious challenger to QQQ for cost-conscious investors, and the comparison traffic reflects that. SCHG's 0.04% expense ratio versus QQQ's 0.20% is a conversation that 2,000+ users a month are actively having.

Amid all the thematic excitement, the bread-and-butter comparisons remain extremely popular. QQQ vs. SPY (771 users), VTI vs. VOO (706), IVV vs. VOO (587), QQQ vs. VOO (583), SPY vs. IVV (566)—these are the "which foundational ETF should I own" questions that never go out of style.

The QQQ vs. QQQM comparison (629 users) deserves special mention. These are essentially the same index at different price points, but investors are clearly still working through whether the switch makes sense for their situation. At this volume, it's one of the most practically useful comparisons on the tool.

One of the more surprising findings in the data is how actively investors are researching uranium and nuclear ETFs. URA vs. NLR drew 459 users—more than many mainstream equity matchups. NLR vs. URNM pulled 355. URA vs. URNM: 291. URNM vs. URA: 168. NLR vs. URA: 143. URNJ vs. URNM: 80.

That's a niche category generating well over 1,500 comparison sessions. For a theme most investors couldn't have named three years ago, nuclear is getting serious due diligence. The nuances matter to this crowd: physical uranium vs. uranium miners, pure-play vs. diversified nuclear, large producers vs. junior miners.

SPMO—Invesco's S&P 500 Momentum ETF—appears in six different matchups across the top of the data. VOO vs. SPMO (570), QQQ vs. SPMO (569), QQQM vs. SPMO (538), VGT vs. SPMO (288), SPY vs. RSP (567). Investors are stress-testing momentum against their core holdings, asking whether chasing factor performance makes sense at this point in the cycle.

The RSP comparison is a related tell: equal-weight vs. cap-weight (567 users) is a question that resurfaces whenever concentration risk is on investors' minds. When the top 10 names in the S&P 500 account for a record share of the index, the equal-weight alternative starts looking interesting—at least interesting enough to compare.

The AI ETF category is generating real comparison traffic, but the matchups suggest investors are still sorting out which funds belong in which bucket. AIQ vs. BOTZ: 512 users. BOTZ vs. ARKQ: 330. BOTZ vs. ROBO: 253. BOTZ vs. AIQ: 185. AIQ vs. CHAT: 267. IRBO vs. BOTZ: 131.

BOTZ shows up as the reference point—the ETF everyone else gets compared to. But the high volume across multiple AI/robotics pairs suggests this is a category where investors haven't landed on a consensus pick. That's an opportunity for editorial clarity.

Defense ETF comparisons spiked in ways consistent with investors responding to geopolitical headlines. XAR vs. PPA: 253 users. XAR vs. ITA: 196. SHLD vs. ITA: 185. PPA vs. ITA: 133. These aren't abstract research queries—they read like investors actively deciding where to put new money in a sector they've recently decided to own.

Space ETFs show up nearby: UFO vs. ARKX (352), NASA vs. UFO (111), UFO vs. ROKT (68). The overlap with defense themes—several space ETFs hold significant aerospace and defense names—suggests some investors are treating the two categories as adjacent bets.

Despite rate cut expectations, investors are still actively comparing their cash-parking options. TBIL vs. SGOV: 384 users. SGOV vs. BIL: 319. VBIL vs. SGOV: 296. BOXX vs. SGOV: 139. BIL vs. SGOV: 79.

The BOXX comparison is notable—it signals that some investors are now aware of the more exotic cash-management structures and are doing genuine due diligence on them. The T-bill ETF category has matured from a novelty into a crowded, actively-researched space.

Taken together, the comparison traffic over the last 28 days paints a picture of an investor base that is engaged, specific, and often ahead of the mainstream narrative. Semiconductors are being researched at a depth that goes well beyond "I want chip exposure." Growth ETFs are being evaluated on cost and construction, not just performance. Nuclear energy has graduated from talking point to portfolio consideration.

The comparison tool is, in a sense, a live map of investor decision-making—not what people bought, but what they were thinking about buying. Right now, they're thinking hard about chips, growth factors, nuclear power, and momentum. We'll keep tracking it.

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