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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and SDY +16.5%.

Which is cheaper, IAU or SDY?

IAU is cheaper, by 0.10 percentage points a year. That is about $10 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 SDY: Differences, Returns & Fees

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IAU is a commodity fund and SDY an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, SDY returned +16.5% against +2.7%.

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Net assets: $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust, and $21.9bn on Oct 27, 2026 for State Street SPDR S&P Dividend ETF.

IAU on its own →SDY on its own →

At a glance

+2.7%

IAU total return, 1 year

+16.5%

SDY total return, 1 year

0.25%

IAU expense ratio

0.35%

SDY expense ratio

Pair scorecard

IAU costs 0.10 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 13.8 points; IAU is 2.8 times larger.

IAU vs SDY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IAU	SDY
Return
Measure	IAU	SDY
Total return, 1 year	+2.7%	+16.5%
Drawdown
Measure	IAU	SDY
Below its high	24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	IAU	SDY
What it tracks	Gold	S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats Index
Cost and size
Measure	IAU	SDY
Expense ratio	0.25%	0.35%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$60.3bn	$21.9bn
Holdings
Measure	IAU	SDY
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight		84%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund		20.4%

Method

Side by side

IAU iShares Gold Trust SDY State Street SPDR S&P Dividend ETF

Where it sits Commodity ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares State Street

What it is Holds gold Tracks the S&P Dividend

Total return, 1 year +2.7% +16.5%

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% 0.35%

Holdings not counted 156

Net assets, IAU as of Oct 28, 2026 and SDY as of Oct 27, 2026 $60.1bn $21.9bn

IAU and SDY 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.

SDY

SDY tracks the S&P Dividend. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +16.5% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.35% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 84% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 156 positions, with the top ten at 20.4%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, IAU or SDY?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and SDY +16.5%.
Which is cheaper, IAU or SDY?: IAU is cheaper, by 0.10 percentage points a year. That is about $10 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Other comparisons

IAU vs RSP COWZ vs IAU IAU vs NOBL IAU vs VOE SDY vs SLV GLD vs SDY SDY vs SIVR SDY vs USO

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

iShares page for IAU ↗

SDY filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

SDY prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

State Street website ↗

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

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

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

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