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ESGU vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees

ESGU and SPY hold 79% of their weight in the same names. Net assets: $18.3bn on Oct 9, 2026 for iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF, and $817.2bn on Oct 8, 2026 for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.

SPY costs 0.06 points a year less; both returned +17.3% over a year; SPY is far larger, $817.2bn against $18.1bn.

ESGU vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees
ESGUSPY
Expense ratio0.15%0.09%
Net assets, as of Oct 8, 2026$18.1bn$817.2bn
Total return, 1 year+17.3%+17.3%
What it tracksMSCI USA Extended ESG Focus IndexS&P 500 Index
Holdings in common79%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund37.8%39.1%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 8, 2026 and Oct 9, 2026.

+17.3%
ESGU total return, 1 year
+17.3%
SPY total return, 1 year
0.15%
ESGU expense ratio
0.09%
SPY expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, ESGU and SPY hold 79% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Above 50%, holding both is close to holding one of them twice. Holdings dated Oct 8, 2026 and Oct 9, 2026.

half

79% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first
Holding ESGU SPY
NVIDIA 7.87% 8.34%
APPLE 7.25% 7.42%
MICROSOFT 5.67% 5.80%
AMAZON.COM INC 3.69% 3.73%
BROADCOM INC 2.46% 2.56%
ALPHABET CLASS C 3.50% 2.45%
META PLATFORMS CLASS A 2.16% 2.38%
ALPHABET CLASS A 1.93% 3.06%
MICRON TECHNOLOGY 1.69% 1.75%
TESLA INC 1.60% 1.58%
ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES 1.50% 1.51%
ELI LILLY 1.37% 1.40%
Only in ESGU
CHENIERE ENERGY 0.26%
CLOUDFLARE CLASS A 0.18%
SNOWFLAKE 0.17%
OKTA CLASS A 0.16%
MERCADOLIBRE 0.15%
ZSCALER 0.13%
ROYALTY PHARMA PLC CLASS A 0.11%
TECHNIPFMC PLC 0.11%
Only in SPY
WALMART INC 0.74%
PHILIP MORRIS INTERNATIONAL 0.47%
PEPSICO INC 0.26%
SCHWAB (CHARLES) CORP 0.23%
TJX COMPANIES INC 0.23%
BOEING CO/THE 0.22%
VALERO ENERGY CORP 0.19%
CHUBB LTD 0.18%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

ESGU
iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF
SPY
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust
Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF
Issuer iShares State Street
What it is Tracks an index Tracks the S&P 500
Total return, 1 year +17.3% +17.3%
Its benchmark over the same days not published +17.3% (VOO)
Gap to its benchmark not available −0.1 pts vs VOO
Expense ratio 0.15% 0.09%
Already in the S&P 500 97.4% 99.8%
Holdings 269 504
Net assets, ESGU as of Oct 9, 2026 and SPY as of Oct 8, 2026 $18.3bn $817.2bn

ESGU and SPY on the fields both publish, as of Oct 9, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

About ESGU

ESGU tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +17.3% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 9, 2026, 97% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 269 positions, with the top ten at 37.8%.

About SPY

SPY tracks the S&P 500. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +17.3% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% 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 8, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 504 positions, with the top ten at 39.1%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, ESGU or SPY?
In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ESGU returned +17.3% and SPY +17.3%.
Which is cheaper, ESGU 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.
How much do ESGU and SPY overlap with the S&P 500?
By their latest filed holdings, 97% of ESGU and 100% of SPY by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.
Other comparisons
ESGU vs IVVESGU vs VTIESGU vs VOOESGU vs MGCMTUM vs SPYIWV vs SPYSPMO vs SPYSPY vs USMV
ESGU on its own →SPY on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →Standards and sources →
Where these figures came from
ESGU filings on SEC EDGAR ↗ESGU prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗iShares page for ESGU ↗SPY filings on SEC EDGAR ↗State Street website ↗

ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure; a link is not an endorsement. 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, ESGU against SPY, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/esgu-vs-spy

Open data

Free to use with attribution for figures ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.