Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
AVUS vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, AVUS returned +18.0% to SPY's +13.6%; 71% of their weight is in the same names.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $14.8bn for Avantis U.S. Equity ETF and $814.8bn for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.
Pair scorecard
SPY costs 0.06 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 4.4 points; SPY is far larger, $814.8bn against $14.8bn.
| Measure | AVUS | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +18.0% | +13.6% |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | No index, actively managed | S&P 500 Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.15% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $14.8bn | $814.8bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 71% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 30.0% | 38.1% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Oct 4, 2019 to Oct 23, 2026 · 368 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: AVUS against IWV, Oct 4, 2019 to Oct 23, 2026; SPY against VOO, Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026.
AVUS and SPY returned about the same: +183.7% and +185.5%. SPY swung slightly less: 18.5% to 19.5%. SPY fell slightly less at its worst: −31.8% to −35.1%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | AVUS | SPY | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +183.7% | +185.5% | Tie | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +15.9% | +16.0% | Tie | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +158.5% | +158.2% | Tie | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 19.5% | 18.5% | SPY (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 13.6% | 12.7% | SPY (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −35.1% | −31.8% | SPY (slight) | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 98.1% | 99.8% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 98.3% | 100.0% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.01 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.97 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.71 | 0.74 | SPY (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.02 | 1.07 | SPY (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.136 | 0.133 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.45 | 0.50 | SPY | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | IWV | VOO | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.5% a year | −0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.37 | −0.51 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −2.1% to +3.0% | −0.3% to +0.1% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.18 | −0.15 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 3.4% | 0.4% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 368 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, AVUS and SPY hold 71% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.
half
71% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
AVUS and SPY on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
AVUS and SPY are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?
- What each follows. AVUS follows No index, actively managed and SPY follows S&P 500 Index.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 AVUS returned +18.0% and SPY +13.6% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 4.4 points.
- Number of holdings. AVUS holds 1,943 positions and SPY holds 504.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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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%.
SPY
SPY tracks the S&P 500. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.6% with distributions reinvested, against +13.7% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 504 positions, with the top ten at 38.1%.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, AVUS or SPY?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, AVUS returned +18.0% and SPY +13.6%.
- Which is cheaper, AVUS or SPY?
- SPY is cheaper, by 0.06 percentage points a year. That is about $6 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.
How this is computed
Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.
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ETFIQ, AVUS against SPY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/avus-vs-spy
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). AVUS against SPY. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/avus-vs-spy
[AVUS against SPY (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/avus-vs-spy)
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