Which is cheaper, VOO or ZAUG?

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

Are VOO and ZAUG the same kind of fund?

No. VOO 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

VOO vs ZAUG: how they differ

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

Vanguard 500 Index Fund and Innovator Equity Defined Protection ETF - 1 Yr August.

VOO and ZAUG on the fields both publish, as of Sep 12, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
	VOO Vanguard 500 Index Fund	ZAUG Innovator Equity Defined Protection ETF - 1 Yr August
Where it sits	Core index fund	Buffer ETF
Issuer	Vanguard	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	506	not filed

VOO in plain words

VOO 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 506 positions, with the top ten at 36.5%.

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, VOO or ZAUG?: VOO charges 0.03% a year and ZAUG charges 0.79%, so VOO is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Are VOO and ZAUG the same kind of fund?: No. VOO 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.

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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.

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

A comparison is not a recommendation. Standards and sources