Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
BND vs TLT: Differences, Returns & Fees
BND's duration was 5.7 years on Jun 30, 2026 and TLT's 15.1 on Aug 31, 2026; BND charges 0.03% to TLT's 0.15%.
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Net assets: $161.4bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF, and $47.4bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF.
Pair scorecard
BND costs 0.12 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 6.6 points; BND is 3.5 times larger.
| Measure | BND | TLT |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | −1.3% | −7.9% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 3.5%, high on Aug 6, 2020 | 42.6%, high on Aug 4, 2020 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index | ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.03% | 0.15% |
| Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026 | $161.4bn | $46.2bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 6% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jun 30, 2026 and Aug 31, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Apr 20, 2007 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,018 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: BND against AGG, Apr 20, 2007 to Oct 23, 2026; TLT against BBLB, Apr 28, 2023 to Oct 23, 2026.
BND returned slightly more: +75.5% to +70.1%. BND swung less: 5.0% to 14.2%. BND fell less at its worst: −18.4% to −47.8%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | BND | TLT | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +75.5% | +70.1% | BND (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +2.9% | +2.7% | BND (slight) | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −5.4% | −7.7% | BND | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 5.0% | 14.2% | BND | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 3.7% | 10.0% | BND | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −18.4% | −47.8% | BND | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 95.8% | 102.4% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 95.6% | 101.2% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.91 | 1.01 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.94 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.29 | 0.15 | BND | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.39 | 0.22 | BND | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.016 | −0.072 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.16 | 0.06 | BND | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | AGG | BBLB | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.2% a year | 0.0% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.59 | −0.01 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.4% to +0.7% | −0.8% to +0.8% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.03 | −0.10 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 1.3% | 0.7% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,018 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, BND and TLT hold 6% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Jun 30, 2026 and Aug 31, 2026.
half
6% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
BND and TLT on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
BND and TLT do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. BND follows Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index and TLT follows ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index.
- Holdings in common. 6% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Jun 30, 2026 and Aug 31, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 BND returned −1.3% and TLT −7.9% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 6.6 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.
TLT
TLT tracks an index of 20+ year Treasuries. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −7.9% with distributions reinvested, against −7.8% for its benchmark, the ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. It sat 42.6% below its high of Aug 4, 2020 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, BND or TLT?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, BND returned −1.3% and TLT −7.9%.
- Which is cheaper, BND or TLT?
- BND is cheaper, by 0.12 percentage points a year. That is about $12 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.
Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown
ETFIQ, BND against TLT, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/bnd-vs-tlt
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). BND against TLT. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/bnd-vs-tlt
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