Which returned more over the last year, AVUS or IAU?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, AVUS returned +18.0% and IAU +2.7%.

Which is cheaper, AVUS or IAU?

AVUS is cheaper, by 0.10 percentage points a year. That is about $10 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

AVUS vs IAU: Differences, Returns & Fees

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AVUS is an actively managed equity fund and IAU a commodity fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, AVUS returned +18.0% against +2.7%.

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Net assets: $14.8bn on Oct 27, 2026 for Avantis U.S. Equity ETF, and $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust.

AVUS on its own →IAU on its own →

At a glance

+18.0%

AVUS total return, 1 year

+2.7%

IAU total return, 1 year

0.15%

AVUS expense ratio

0.25%

IAU expense ratio

Pair scorecard

AVUS costs 0.10 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 15.3 points; IAU is 4.1 times larger.

AVUS vs IAU: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	AVUS	IAU
Return
Measure	AVUS	IAU
Total return, 1 year	+18.0%	+2.7%
Drawdown
Measure	AVUS	IAU
Below its high		24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	AVUS	IAU
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	Gold
Cost and size
Measure	AVUS	IAU
Expense ratio	0.15%	0.25%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$14.8bn	$60.3bn
Holdings
Measure	AVUS	IAU
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight	84%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	30.0%

Method

Side by side

AVUS Avantis U.S. Equity ETF IAU iShares Gold Trust

Where it sits Stock ETF Commodity ETF

Issuer Avantis iShares

What it is Actively managed Holds gold

Total return, 1 year +18.0% +2.7%

Its benchmark over the same days +13.3% (IWV) +2.5% (GLD)

Gap to its benchmark +4.7 pts vs IWV +0.2 pts vs GLD

Expense ratio 0.15% 0.25%

Holdings 1943 not counted

Net assets, AVUS as of Oct 27, 2026 and IAU as of Oct 28, 2026 $14.8bn $60.1bn

AVUS and IAU on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

Alert

About each fund

AVUS

Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +18.0% with distributions reinvested, against +13.3% for its benchmark, the Russell 3000.

AVUS is actively managed and tracks no index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 84% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 1,943 positions, with the top ten at 30.0%.

IAU

Its expense ratio is 0.25% a year, for the three months to Jun 30, 2026, as its 10-Q states.

IAU holds gold. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +2.7% with distributions reinvested, against +2.5% for its benchmark, the price of gold. It sat 24.6% below its high of Jan 29, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, AVUS or IAU?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, AVUS returned +18.0% and IAU +2.7%.
Which is cheaper, AVUS or IAU?: AVUS is cheaper, by 0.10 percentage points a year. That is about $10 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Other comparisons

AVUS vs GLDM AVUS vs SLV AVUS vs GLD AVUS vs USO DGRW vs IAU IAU vs XLG IAU vs MTUM IAU vs SPHQ

Where to next

AVUS on its own →IAU on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →AVUS dividend history →AVUS holdings →Standards and sources →

Sources and dates

AVUS filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

AVUS prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

Avantis website ↗

iShares page for IAU ↗

Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, AVUS against IAU, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/avus-vs-iau

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