In this article, we present a new family of solutions to the Einstein field equations of an uncharged spherically symmetric anisotropic matter distribution in the context of f(Q) gravity by choosing $$f(Q)=Q+aQ^2$$
f
(
Q
)
=
Q
+
a
Q
2
, a being the coupling constant. Along with the fundamental quintessence dark energy defined by the equation of state parameter $$-1<\omega _q<-\frac{1}{3}$$
-
1
<
ω
q
<
-
1
3
, we have generated the field equations in modified gravity. Using the linear relationship between radial pressure and energy density along with the Krori–Barua (KB) metric potential, we are able to solve the field equations. Next, we discuss the smooth matching between the exterior Schwarzschild spacetime and the interior spherically symmetric spacetime. We have presented a thorough physical analysis of several factors analytically and graphically to show the physical viability of our suggested model. For the compact star SAXJ 1808.4-3658, our entire graphical analysis was carried out in the context of our solutions for various values of the coupling constant connection to the f(Q) gravity. The influence of coupling constant “a” on different model parameters has been numerically determined and is presented in tabular form. We checked the radial and tangential sound speeds, the stability factor, the adiabatic index, etc. to determine whether our model was stable. It is evident from our analysis that the model is potentially stable when coupling constant $$a \in [0,\,5]$$
a
∈
[
0
,
5
]
. The maximum allowable mass and radius from our present model have been obtained through the mass–radius ($$M-R$$
M
-
R
) plot for different values of a.