Top 10 MySuper funds in 2026: performance, returns and rankings

Everyone loves a good investment story. That stock you picked up on the cheap. The managed fund you’ve been spruiking to all your friends for its stellar performance. How often do you boast about your super? I’m guessing never. Chances are, you aren’t across the latest returns of your portfolio either.

It’s amazing how one of our most important financial assets is the one we often pay the least attention to. As those in early retirement might often ruefully comment, they wish they’d taken note earlier.

It’s never too late to take a closer look at your super and in this article, I’ll take a look at SuperRatings Top MySuper Funds at the end of 2025 and how they are performing so far in 2026. It’s not an easy time to invest and looking through cycles is always a useful activity to assess your fund.

MySuper offerings are the default offerings in your super fund – some of these might be based on lifecycle where the asset allocations shift based on your stage of life, while others may be the standard format many of us are familiar with: think conservative, balanced, growth and high growth. In the interests of a reasonable comparison, I’ll compare the default options that fit in a high growth form of asset allocation (and that includes the lifecycle options).

If you are already in one of these, congratulations, it’s finally your moment to boast about your super. If not, perhaps it’s time to investigate your existing super option and whether it meets your needs, circumstances and strategy.

SuperRatings Funds of the Year

I’ve used SuperRatings as my starting point for the top funds, which is backed by independent research provider, Lonsec Research.

Each year, SuperRatings nominate their funds of the year which are based on peer relative position, investment performance and processes, fees, insurance offering, administration capabilities, member servicing and governance practices.

What this means is that these may not actually be the top performers because the decision to nominate them is based on broader criteria. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – past performance is not a reliable predictor of future performance, as we all know, and due diligence requires considering an investment in its entirety.

• The MySuper Fund of the Year for 2026 is Australian Retirement Trust.
• The other finalists included: AustralianSuper, Aware Super, Brighter Super, Colonial First State, Hesta, Hostplus, Mercer, MLC, UniSuper.
• The Super Fund of the Year for 2026 was UniSuper.

For a more like-for-like comparison, if the default option doesn’t match a growth/high growth style of asset allocation, I’ve used the fund’s pre-mixed growth or high growth option instead. Default options are frequently balanced styles of funds, unless the fund manager uses a 'lifecycle' approach to investing, which is based on age, and is usually high growth for those under 55. Where a lifestage fund is used, I’ve selected an option that will still sit in the high growth range.

Top 10 MySuper funds: high growth performance

Please note that the fees are sourced from the Australian Government YourSuper Comparison tool which is dated as at 31 December 2025, while the fund performance has been sourced directly from the Fund manager websites.

All data is as at 31 March 2026, with the exception of UniSuper which had only published data to 28 February 2026 at the time of writing on 14 April 2026. Neither Colonial First State nor Hostplus had five-year data for their options. Data is presented in alphabetical order of provider.

Scroll across to see performance.

Source: Australian Government YourSuper Comparison tool, Australian Retirement Trust, Aware Super, AustralianSuper, Brighter Super, Colonial First State, Hesta, Hostplus, Mercer, MLC, UniSuper. All sites were accessed at 14 April 2026.

March was a volatile month in markets as a result of the war in Iran and oil crisis. The market finished up off the back of potential resolution with a US pause on energy strikes, but had experienced a significant pullback at various points of the month.

For the purposes of fair comparison, I’ll only analyse the funds with 31 March data.

The top five performing funds on a one-year basis were:

1. Colonial First State CFS Lifestage 1980-84: 11.15%
2. AustralianSuper Pre-mixed High Growth: 9.90%
3. Hostplus High Growth: 9.81%
4. Hesta High Growth: 9.64%
5. Brighter Super Growth: 8.81%

The top five performing funds on a five-year basis were:

1. Hesta High Growth: 8.98% pa
2. Australian Retirement Trust Lifecycle Investment Strategy – High Growth Pool: 8.97% pa
3. Brighter Super Growth: 8.46%
4. Mercer SmartPath (born 1979-1983): 7.80% pa
5. AustralianSuper Pre-mixed High Growth: 7.70% pa

How do the top performers invest?

Super is a long-term investment so there can be both similarities and differences in how different funds invest, even where they’ve had similar results. They can take a different approach to growth investing, or use tactical investments as part of their broader strategy to take advantage of opportunities.

Both Hesta and Australian Retirement Trust were almost identical in their five-year returns and have the same target for returns so both have been shown below.

Hesta High Growth

The Hesta High Growth targets an after-tax return, after investment fees and indirect costs, equivalent to or higher than CPI + 4%.

The asset allocation as outlined in its Investment Choices attachment for the Product Disclosure Statement dated 30 September 2025 follows:

You can view the exact holdings here.

Australian Retirement Trust Lifecycle Investment Strategy – High Growth Pool

The Australian Retirement Trust Lifecycle Investment Strategy – High Growth Pool targets returns of CPI +4% after fees and costs and measured over rolling 10-year periods.

The asset allocation set from 1 July 2025 is shown below:

You can view the exact holdings here. 

Should I change funds?

Some investors may have looked at the tables above, logged into their super fund and felt some concern. Whether or not to change funds is not as simple as the latest performance numbers.

While speaking to a financial adviser or expert is valuable in ensuring your strategy and fund meets your needs, goals and circumstances, here are some other questions to help you in the process.

1. What super option am I invested in and does that match my needs?
2. How does it compare to its peers in the market?
3. How has it performed across multiple cycles?

If you find that your answers to the above are positive – your fund matches your needs and strategy, compares well to its peers and has returned consistently across cycles, then you might be in the right option for you.

If you find otherwise, then now might be the time to do your research, both within your existing provider and outside to see what option might be the best fit – and check in with an expert.

The Australian Government YourSuper Comparison tool is a helpful starting point – just remember it doesn’t necessarily factor your individual needs, circumstances and goals and the data is based on 31 December 2025. You might also want to take a look at Moneysmart.gov.au for additional resources and tools.

Your super. Your life

Super is one of the biggest long-term investments you’ll have and critical to your retirement so keep on top of your investments and make sure your option continues to meet your needs – it can change over the course of your life so seek help where you need it.