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

In the year to Sep 13, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +19.2% and IJR returned +19.9%, so IJR returned more. One year is one year; the longer windows are in the table.

Which is cheaper, IAU or IJR?

IAU charges 0.25% a year and IJR charges 0.06%, so IJR is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Data as of Sep 13, 2026. Both funds on the fields they both publish, from the same sources.

ETFIQetfiq.com · independent ETF data

IAU vs IJR: how they differ

IAU is a commodity fund and IJR an equity index fund, and over the year IJR returned more, +19.9% against +19.2%.

iShares Gold Trust and iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF.

IAU and IJR on the fields both publish, as of Sep 13, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
	IAU iShares Gold Trust	IJR iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF
Where it sits	Core index fund	Core index fund
Issuer	iShares	iShares
What it is	Gold	S&P SmallCap 600
Total return, 1 year	+19.2%	+19.9%
S&P 500 over the same days	+17.5%	+17.5%
Gap to the S&P 500	+1.7 pts	+2.4 pts
Expense ratio	0.25%	0.06%
Holdings	not filed	608

IAU in plain words

IAU is a commodity fund tracking the Gold. Over the year to Sep 11, 2026 it returned +19.2% with distributions reinvested, against +17.5% for the S&P 500 and +23.0% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.25% a year. It sat 19.6% below its high of Jan 29, 2026 on Sep 11, 2026.

IJR in plain words

IJR is an index equity fund tracking the S&P SmallCap 600. Over the year to Sep 11, 2026 it returned +19.9% with distributions reinvested, against +17.5% for the S&P 500 and +23.0% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.06% a year. By its holdings filed for Sep 10, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 608 positions, with the top ten at 6.8%. It sat 5.5% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Sep 11, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, IAU or IJR?: In the year to Sep 13, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +19.2% and IJR returned +19.9%, so IJR returned more. One year is one year; the longer windows are in the table.
Which is cheaper, IAU or IJR?: IAU charges 0.25% a year and IJR charges 0.06%, so IJR is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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Where these figures came from

ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure. It is not affiliated with any issuer, and a link is not an endorsement.

IAU against IJR, ETFIQ, data as of Sep 13, 2026. Every figure is arithmetic on a named public source; the method is at etfiq.com/methodology. A comparison is not a recommendation.

Cite this page. ETFIQ, IAU against IJR, data as of Sep 13, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-ijr Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.

A comparison is not a recommendation. Standards and sources