Broad market ETF compare
Query: Large US-listed ETFs tracking S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 and total US market compared by expense ratio and 1-year return · data as of 2026-10-16
Built a 24-ETF comparison of broad US benchmark ETFs grouped by S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, Total US Market (plus S&P 500 Top 100/50 and Russell 1000 context groups), sorted by lowest expense ratio then best 1Y return, with AUM, 1M/6M/3M/1Y returns, top holdings, tech weight and cheapest/best-performer flags, plus per-fund commentary. Note: SPLG and QQQ are the only names from the request missing/limited in our coverage (SPLG not in universe; leveraged 2x/3x daily reset funds excluded by design).
Comparison of broad US equity benchmark ETFs across the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 and total US market groups, grouped by benchmark and sorted by lowest expense ratio then strongest 1-year return, with AUM, 1M/6M/1Y returns and top holdings (as of October 16, 2026).
Benchmark groups, fees and what actually differentiates the funds
How to read this table — funds are grouped by the benchmark they track and, within each group, sorted by lowest expense ratio first (ties broken by strongest 1-year return). The Group Flags column marks the cheapest fund and the best 1-year performer in each benchmark group. All figures are end-of-day.
The S&P 500 group is a fee and plumbing decision, not an index decision. VOO, IVV, SPY, SPYM, BBUS and BKLC hold essentially the same 500 securities at the same weights, so gross returns diverge only through fee, tracking error and securities-lending offsets. That leaves three real considerations: how cheap the fee is, how deep the secondary market is for the size you trade, and whether you need an options market. SPY loses on cost but is the only one of the group with genuinely institutional liquidity and a derivatives complex — it is a hedging and execution instrument that happens to be an index fund. The zero-to-3-basis-point share classes win for buy-and-hold, but several are small funds where a wide spread on a small order can cost more than a decade of fee savings, and zero-fee products should be checked for temporary waivers. Two names in the group are not true index funds: SFY applies a proprietary fundamental overlay, and USPX tracks a Morningstar index with a slightly different cutoff, so neither is a clean substitute in a like-for-like comparison.
OEF and XLG are S&P 500 derivatives, not alternatives. They concentrate the same mega-cap leadership into 100 and 50 names and charge a premium fee for the privilege, which only pays off if the largest companies keep outrunning the rest of the index.
The Nasdaq 100 group is a composition story. QQQ and QQQM hold identical portfolios; the difference is fee versus liquidity and options depth. What separates the group from the S&P 500 is not its top holdings but its makeup — no financials, essentially no energy, and well over seventy percent in technology and communication. That makes it the high-duration expression of the same mega-cap trade: it leads when growth and rate-cut expectations dominate and gives back the most when the cost of capital is repricing, as the current rate-driven duration penalty in the market highlights.
Total-market funds add a small-cap tail that barely moves the needle. VTI, ITOT, SCHB and SPTM hold roughly 2,500–3,600 names, but the tail is under a fifth of assets in a cap-weighted structure, so the top ten holdings still dominate returns. The index family choice (CRSP, S&P 1500, Dow Jones broad market, MSCI USA) matters most at the small-cap boundary and around reconstitution seasons, which is where the small performance differences between them originate. IWV charges the most in the group largely for the Russell brand, and Dimensional's DFUS runs a light systematic tilt rather than pure replication — a feature or a bug depending on your view of cap-weighted allocation.
The large-cap / Russell 1000 group is included for context: these funds are behavioural near-substitutes for the S&P 500 at a similar or lower fee, which is why cap-weighted exposure has become the most commoditised part of the ETF market.
Broad US Equity Benchmark ETFs — S&P 500 · Nasdaq 100 · Total US Market
| Symbol | Fund Name | Benchmark Group | ETF Index Tracked | Expense Ratio (%) | 1Y Return (%) | 6M Return (%) | 1M Return (%) | 3M Return (%) | AUM | Top 10 Holdings | Info Tech Weight (%) | Turnover (%) | % From 52W High | Group Flags | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BKLC | BNY Mellon US Large Cap Core Equity ETF | S&P 500 | S&P 500 (BNY Mellon) | 0.00% | 15.49% | 7.86% | -0.06% | 2.91% | 5.427e+09 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, GOOG, AVGO, META, MU, TSLA | 40.22% | 2.10% | -2.25% | Cheapest | Cheapest S&P 500 exposure in the table, and the firm has historically absorbed the fee itself rather than passing a waiver that can lapse. The trade-offs are book depth and a much smaller asset base — fine for buy-and-hold, less ideal as a hedging or options vehicle. |
| SPYM | State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF | S&P 500 | S&P 500 (SPDR Portfolio) | 0.02% | 16.07% | 8.06% | 0.31% | 3.10% | — | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, AVGO, GOOG, META, MU, TSLA | 40.45% | 3.00% | -2.06% | — | State Street's parallel to the other low-cost S&P 500 share classes. Biggest practical limitation is thin secondary liquidity — wide spreads on small orders can cost more than a decade of fee savings, so it rewards patient, large, or NAV-based flow. |
| BBUS | JPMorgan BetaBuilders U.S. Equity ETF | S&P 500 | S&P 500 (JPMorgan BetaBuilders) | 0.02% | 15.43% | 8.13% | 0.25% | 3.21% | 8.38e+09 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, AVGO, GOOG, META, MU, TSLA | 40.60% | 3.00% | -2.24% | — | JPMorgan's plain-vanilla S&P 500 sleeve; useful for brokerage platforms that price JPMorgan funds at no commission. Structural appeal is limited by modest scale, which keeps spreads wider than the flagship products. |
| IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | S&P 500 | S&P 500 (iShares Core) | 0.03% | 16.08% | 8.07% | 0.34% | 3.16% | 8.549e+11 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, AVGO, GOOG, META, MU, TSLA | 40.45% | 3.00% | -2.03% | — | The institutional default: deep screen liquidity, tight spreads and heavy use by model portfolios and advisors. Also one of the largest pools of securities lending revenue in the industry, which quietly offsets part of the fee. |
| VOO | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | S&P 500 | S&P 500 (Vanguard) | 0.03% | 16.07% | 8.07% | 0.34% | 3.11% | 1.702e+12 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, AVGO, GOOG, META, MU, TSLA | 40.48% | 2.00% | -2.04% | — | The largest S&P 500 fund by assets; scale and Vanguard's at-cost structure make it the standard core holding. Its size means very low tracking error but also limits flexibility — it is not an options or intraday trading instrument. |
| USPX | Franklin U.S. Equity Index ETF | S&P 500 | S&P 500 (Franklin/Morningstar US) | 0.03% | 15.69% | 8.15% | 0.28% | 3.21% | 1.953e+09 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, AVGO, GOOG, META, MU, TSLA | 40.59% | 3.00% | -2.21% | — | Tracks a Morningstar-built large/mid-cap index rather than the S&P 500 itself, so expect small composition drift from the benchmark despite the similar look. Best suited to investors already using Franklin's platform where trading is free. |
| SFY | SoFi Select 500 ETF | S&P 500 | S&P 500 (SoFi Select 500, proprietary) | 0.05% | 19.69% | 11.84% | -0.55% | 1.22% | 6.709e+08 | NVDA, MSFT, AAPL, MU, AVGO, AMZN, META, LLY, GOOGL, GOOG | 50.95% | 0.00% | -4.12% | Best 1Y | Not an S&P 500 index fund despite the name — the screen and weighting mix market cap with proprietary fundamental factors, which is why it can diverge from the benchmark in either direction. Small asset base and negligible turnover keep costs low but liquidity is limited. |
| SPY | State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | S&P 500 | S&P 500 (SPDR Trust) | 0.09% | 15.98% | 8.02% | 0.33% | 3.11% | 7.838e+11 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, AVGO, GOOG, META, MU, TSLA | 40.45% | 3.00% | -2.03% | — | Costs are higher than the index-tracking alternatives, but SPY remains the world's most liquid equity ETF and the reference instrument for S&P 500 futures, options and hedging. Its real value is execution and optionality, not expense ratio. |
| OEF | iShares S&P 100 Fund | S&P 500 (Top 100) | S&P 100 | 0.20% | 15.26% | 9.15% | 0.14% | 3.83% | 2.067e+10 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, AVGO, GOOG, META, MU, TSLA | 46.85% | 5.00% | -2.38% | Cheapest · Best 1Y | A mega-cap subset of the S&P 500 — no mid-cap tail, so it behaves like a more concentrated version of the same index. Trading is thin relative to its assets, and the fee is high for what is essentially a cap-weighting shortcut. |
| XLG | Invesco S&P 500 Top 50 ETF | S&P 500 (Top 50) | S&P 500 Top 50 | 0.20% | 10.28% | 5.12% | 0.17% | 3.90% | 1.112e+10 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, AVGO, GOOG, META, MU, TSLA | 51.44% | 6.00% | -3.20% | Cheapest · Best 1Y | The most concentrated expression of mega-cap leadership in the table; its performance gap versus the S&P 500 is effectively a bet on whether the largest names keep outrunning the rest of the index. Higher fee and a narrow book make it a tactical tool rather than a core position. |
| QQQM | Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF | Nasdaq 100 | Nasdaq 100 (Invesco) | 0.15% | 18.48% | 9.65% | -0.89% | 2.09% | 9.691e+10 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, MU, AMD, AMZN, META, GOOGL, GOOG, TSLA | 60.33% | 6.00% | -6.55% | Cheapest · Best 1Y | Same portfolio as QQQ at a lower fee, designed for buy-and-hold investors. It lacks QQQ's enormous options market, so it is the wrong instrument for hedging or tactical trading but the better long-term wrapper. |
| QQQ | Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 | Nasdaq 100 | Nasdaq 100 (QQQ Trust) | 0.18% | 18.42% | 9.63% | -0.89% | 2.08% | 4.94e+11 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, MU, AMD, AMZN, META, GOOGL, GOOG, TSLA | 60.33% | 0.00% | -6.56% | — | The original Nasdaq 100 vehicle: no financials, negligible energy, and a technology/communication weight above seventy percent. Its dense options market and liquidity make it the market's preferred high-beta growth proxy, which is also its risk — it gives back the most when rates or the growth trade turn. |
| SPTM | State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 1500 Composite Stock Market ETF | Total US Market | S&P 1500 Composite | 0.03% | 15.86% | 7.45% | 0.18% | 2.60% | 1.364e+10 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, AVGO, GOOG, META, MU, TSLA | 38.74% | 3.00% | -2.35% | Best 1Y | The S&P 1500 route to total-market exposure: identical fee to the biggest total-market funds but a smaller asset base and a different small-cap boundary than CRSP-based products. Cleanest fit where S&P index families are already used. |
| VTI | Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | Total US Market | CRSP US Total Market | 0.03% | 15.21% | 7.29% | -0.09% | 2.39% | 2.309e+12 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, AVGO, GOOG, META, MU, TSLA | 36.37% | 3.00% | -2.66% | Cheapest | The reference total-market fund, with the broadest CRSP universe and unmatched scale. Note that the mega-cap top ten still drive most of the return, so the small-cap tail provides diversification without meaningfully changing the risk profile. |
| SCHB | Schwab U.S. Broad Market ETF | Total US Market | Dow Jones US Broad Market | 0.03% | 15.21% | 7.32% | -0.10% | 2.37% | 4.331e+10 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, AVGO, META, GOOG, MU, TSLA | 38.14% | 3.00% | -2.69% | — | Schwab's low-cost broad-market fund, using a Dow Jones index cut at roughly 2,500 names. Practically equivalent to the other total-market funds; the choice usually comes down to platform integration and commission-free trading. |
| ITOT | iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | Total US Market | S&P Total US Stock Market | 0.03% | 15.21% | 7.31% | -0.08% | 2.36% | 9.342e+10 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, AVGO, GOOG, META, MU, TSLA | 38.40% | 3.00% | -2.71% | — | Uses the S&P total-market family rather than CRSP, which matters most around small-cap rebalancing seasons. Scale and spreads are excellent, making it a genuine substitute for VTI on iShares-favourable platforms. |
| PBUS | Invesco MSCI USA ETF | Total US Market | MSCI USA | 0.04% | 15.52% | 7.99% | 0.15% | 3.02% | 1.141e+10 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, GOOG, META, AVGO, MU, TSLA | 40.22% | 3.00% | -2.24% | — | A MSCI USA-based large/mid-cap fund that behaves close to the S&P 500 rather than a true total-market fund — it excludes most of the micro-cap tail. Attractively priced but with a small asset base, so liquidity is the constraint. |
| GSUS | Goldman Sachs MarketBeta U.S. Equity ETF | Total US Market | Solactive US Large & Mid Cap | 0.07% | 15.30% | 8.05% | 0.02% | 2.92% | 3.164e+09 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, GOOG, AVGO, META, MU, TSLA | 40.71% | 2.00% | -2.19% | — | Covers roughly the largest 85% of US free float, so it sits between a large-cap and a total-market fund. Low fee and solid liquidity; useful as a single-fund core where a slightly leaner tail is acceptable. |
| DFUS | Dimensional U.S. Equity Market ETF | Total US Market | US Equity Market (active/light tilt) | 0.09% | 15.71% | 7.73% | 0.08% | 2.63% | 2.088e+10 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, GOOG, AVGO, META, MU, TSLA | 38.96% | 3.00% | -2.44% | — | Run by Dimensional, so returns come from a light systematic tilt rather than pure replication — it is not a passive total-market clone. Growth in assets has been strong, and the tracking difference versus cap-weighted peers is a feature or a bug depending on your view of factor tilts. |
| IWV | iShares Russell 3000 Fund | Total US Market | Russell 3000 | 0.20% | 15.07% | 7.31% | -0.00% | 2.49% | 1.982e+10 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, AVGO, GOOG, META, MU, TSLA | 37.75% | 3.00% | -2.49% | — | Russell 3000 replication at a materially higher fee than equivalent broad-market funds, largely the cost of Russell's index brand and reconstitution mechanics. The annual reconstitution also creates a small but persistent trading drag at the small-cap end. |
| VV | Vanguard Large-Cap ETF | Large Cap (Russell 1000 / broad) | CRSP US Large Cap | 0.03% | 15.67% | 8.34% | 0.31% | 3.23% | 7.474e+10 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, AVGO, GOOG, META, MU, TSLA | 40.84% | 3.00% | -2.14% | Cheapest · Best 1Y | CRSP large-cap coverage (top ~85% of the investable market) at the same fee as the flagship products — a low-cost compromise if you want large-cap without the S&P selection committee. Behaviourally close to SCHX and IWB. |
| SCHX | Schwab U.S. Large-Cap ETF | Large Cap (Russell 1000 / broad) | Dow Jones US Large-Cap | 0.03% | 15.13% | 7.75% | 0.04% | 2.81% | 7.263e+10 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, AVGO, META, GOOG, MU, TSLA | 39.46% | 3.00% | -2.31% | — | A cap-weighted Dow Jones large-cap index; essentially interchangeable with other large-cap funds for performance, differentiated mainly by platform availability and commission-free trading partnerships. |
| VONE | Vanguard Russell 1000 ETF | Large Cap (Russell 1000 / broad) | Russell 1000 | 0.06% | 15.37% | 7.66% | 0.16% | 2.95% | 1.134e+10 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, AVGO, GOOG, META, MU, TSLA | 38.73% | 3.00% | -2.19% | — | Vanguard's low-cost Russell 1000 replication, the practical way to own that index without paying the pricier iShares version. Slightly high turnover reflects Russell reconstitution mechanics rather than active management. |
| IWB | iShares Russell 1000 ETF | Large Cap (Russell 1000 / broad) | Russell 1000 | 0.15% | 15.25% | 7.65% | 0.20% | 2.90% | 4.887e+10 | NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, AVGO, GOOG, META, MU, TSLA | 38.71% | 3.00% | -2.18% | — | The most established Russell 1000 ETF with the deepest secondary market, but it carries a fee several times the Vanguard alternative and turnover tied to the annual Russell reconstitution. Liquidity and lending revenue are its justification. |
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