Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
BND vs SPSB: Differences, Returns & Fees
On Jun 30, 2026 BND's duration was 5.7 years and SPSB's 1.8; BND charges 0.03% to SPSB's 0.04%.
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Net assets: $161.4bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF, and $11.3bn on Oct 27, 2026 for State Street SPDR Portfolio Short Term Corporate Bond ETF.
Pair scorecard
BND costs 0.01 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 3.5 points; BND is 14.5 times larger.
| Measure | BND | SPSB |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | −1.3% | +2.2% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 3.5%, high on Aug 6, 2020 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index | Bloomberg U.S. 1-3 Year Corporate Bond Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.03% | 0.04% |
| Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026 | $161.4bn | $11.1bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 5% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jun 30, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Dec 24, 2009 to Oct 23, 2026 · 878 weekly returns · each against AGGBND returned slightly more: +49.7% to +47.3%. SPSB swung less: 3.0% to 4.5%. SPSB fell less at its worst: −9.9% to −18.4%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | BND | SPSB | AGG | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | |||||
| Total return | +49.7% | +47.3% | BND (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. | |
| Annualized | +2.4% | +2.3% | BND (slight) | Total return as a yearly rate. | |
| Price return | −9.5% | −1.4% | SPSB | Price change alone, distributions left out. | |
| Risk | |||||
| Volatility | 4.5% | 3.0% | SPSB | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. | |
| Downside deviation | 3.2% | 2.1% | SPSB | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. | |
| Max drawdown | −18.4% | −9.9% | SPSB | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. | |
| Upside capture | 99.9% | 30.3% | 100.0% | BND | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. |
| Downside capture | 99.5% | 20.4% | 100.0% | SPSB | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. |
| Beta | 0.99 | 0.39 | 1.00 | SPSB lower | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.98 | 0.36 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | |||||
| Sharpe | 0.21 | 0.27 | SPSB | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. | |
| Sortino | 0.30 | 0.39 | SPSB | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. | |
| Treynor | 0.010 | 0.020 | 0.009 | SPSB | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. |
| Calmar | 0.13 | 0.23 | SPSB | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. | |
| Against the benchmark | |||||
| Benchmark | AGG | AGG | AGG | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.1% a year | +0.4% a year | 0.0% | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.40 | 0.78 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. | |
| Alpha range | −0.2% to +0.4% | −0.7% to +1.6% | Both include zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. | |
| Information ratio | 0.08 | −0.03 | BND | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.6% | 3.6% | 0.0% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 878 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, BND and SPSB hold 5% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Jun 30, 2026.
half
5% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
BND and SPSB on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
BND and SPSB do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. BND follows Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index and SPSB follows Bloomberg U.S. 1-3 Year Corporate Bond Index.
- Holdings in common. 5% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Jun 30, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 BND returned −1.3% and SPSB +2.2% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 3.5 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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BND
BND tracks an index of US aggregate bonds. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −1.3% with distributions reinvested, against −1.4% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index, measured by the closely related Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. It sat 3.5% below its high of Aug 6, 2020 on Oct 28, 2026.
SPSB
SPSB tracks an index of Short Term Corporate Bond. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +2.2% with distributions reinvested, against −1.4% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.04% a year.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, BND or SPSB?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, BND returned −1.3% and SPSB +2.2%.
- Which is cheaper, BND or SPSB?
- BND is cheaper, by 0.01 percentage points a year. That is about $1 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, BND against SPSB, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/bnd-vs-spsb
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). BND against SPSB. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/bnd-vs-spsb
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