Which is cheaper, IVV or ZAUG?

IVV charges 0.03% a year and ZAUG charges 0.79%, so IVV is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Are IVV and ZAUG the same kind of fund?

No. IVV is an index ETF and ZAUG is a buffer ETF, so they are built for different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and what each actually holds.

Data as of Sep 12, 2026. Both funds on the fields they both publish, from the same sources.

ETFIQetfiq.com · independent ETF data

IVV vs ZAUG: how they differ

IVV and ZAUG are measured over different days, and IVV charges 0.03% against 0.79%.

iShares Core S&P 500 ETF and Innovator Equity Defined Protection ETF - 1 Yr August.

IVV and ZAUG on the fields both publish, as of Sep 12, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
	IVV iShares Core S&P 500 ETF	ZAUG Innovator Equity Defined Protection ETF - 1 Yr August
Where it sits	Core index fund	Buffer ETF
Issuer	iShares	Innovator
What it is	S&P 500	Defined outcome, 100% on SPY
Total return, 1 year	+17.6%	not published
S&P 500 over the same days	+17.5%	not published
Gap to the S&P 500	+0.1 pts	not available
Expense ratio	0.03%	0.79%
Holdings	504	not filed

IVV in plain words

IVV is an index equity fund tracking the S&P 500. Over the year to Sep 11, 2026 it returned +17.6% with distributions reinvested, against +17.5% for the S&P 500 and +23.0% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. By its holdings filed for Jun 30, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 504 positions, with the top ten at 36.4%.

ZAUG in plain words

From its price on Sep 12, 2026, the fund can gain about 7.7% more before it reaches its cap. The fund's price can fall 0.7% from here before the buffer starts absorbing losses, by the issuer's figure. In index terms, SPY can fall 2.3% from today's level to the point where the buffer begins. Protection left, in index points: 100.0% of the 100.0% buffer still sits below today's SPY level. 323 days remained on Sep 12, 2026. On Jul 31, 2027 the period ends and a new cap is set.

Questions people ask

Which is cheaper, IVV or ZAUG?: IVV charges 0.03% a year and ZAUG charges 0.79%, so IVV is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Are IVV and ZAUG the same kind of fund?: No. IVV is an index ETF and ZAUG is a buffer ETF, so they are built for different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and what each actually holds.

Other comparisons

Where to next

Where these figures came from

ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure. It is not affiliated with any issuer, and a link is not an endorsement.

IVV against ZAUG, ETFIQ, data as of Sep 12, 2026. Every figure is arithmetic on a named public source; the method is at etfiq.com/methodology. A comparison is not a recommendation.

Cite this page. ETFIQ, IVV against ZAUG, data as of Sep 12, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/IVV-ZAUG Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.

A comparison is not a recommendation. Standards and sources