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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and ITOT +13.4%.

Which is cheaper, IAU or ITOT?

ITOT is cheaper, by 0.22 percentage points a year. That is about $22 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

IAU vs ITOT: Differences, Returns & Fees

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IAU is a commodity fund and ITOT an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, ITOT returned +13.4% against +2.7%.

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Net assets: $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust, and $97.1bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF.

IAU on its own →ITOT on its own →

At a glance

+2.7%

IAU total return, 1 year

+13.4%

ITOT total return, 1 year

0.25%

IAU expense ratio

0.03%

ITOT expense ratio

Pair scorecard

ITOT costs 0.22 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 10.7 points; ITOT is 1.6 times larger.

IAU vs ITOT: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IAU	ITOT
Return
Measure	IAU	ITOT
Total return, 1 year	+2.7%	+13.4%
Drawdown
Measure	IAU	ITOT
Below its high	24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	IAU	ITOT
What it tracks	Gold	S&P Total Market Index (TMI)
Cost and size
Measure	IAU	ITOT
Expense ratio	0.25%	0.03%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$60.3bn	$97.1bn
Holdings
Measure	IAU	ITOT
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight		88%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund		33.9%

Method

Side by side

IAU iShares Gold Trust ITOT iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF

Where it sits Commodity ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares iShares

What it is Holds gold Tracks the S&P Total U.S. Stock Market

Total return, 1 year +2.7% +13.4%

Its benchmark over the same days +2.5% (GLD) not measured

Gap to its benchmark +0.2 pts vs GLD not measured

Expense ratio 0.25% 0.03%

Holdings not counted 2443

Net assets, IAU as of Oct 28, 2026 and ITOT as of Oct 27, 2026 $60.1bn $97.1bn

IAU and ITOT on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

Alert

About each fund

IAU

Its expense ratio is 0.25% a year, for the three months to Jun 30, 2026, as its 10-Q states.

IAU holds gold. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +2.7% with distributions reinvested, against +2.5% for its benchmark, the price of gold. It sat 24.6% below its high of Jan 29, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

ITOT

ITOT tracks the S&P Total U.S. Stock Market. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.4% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 88% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 2,443 positions, with the top ten at 33.9%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, IAU or ITOT?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and ITOT +13.4%.
Which is cheaper, IAU or ITOT?: ITOT is cheaper, by 0.22 percentage points a year. That is about $22 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Other comparisons

IAU vs VIG IAU vs SCHX IAU vs SPYM IAU vs IWB ITOT vs SLV ITOT vs USO BWET vs ITOT GLD vs ITOT

Where to next

IAU on its own →ITOT on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →ITOT dividend history →ITOT holdings →Standards and sources →

Sources and dates

iShares page for IAU ↗

ITOT filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

ITOT prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for ITOT ↗

Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, IAU against ITOT, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-itot

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