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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and SGOV +3.7%.

Which is cheaper, IAU or SGOV?

SGOV is cheaper, by 0.16 percentage points a year. That is about $16 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 SGOV: Differences, Returns & Fees

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IAU is a commodity fund and SGOV a short-term Treasury fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, SGOV returned +3.7% against +2.7%.

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Net assets: $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust, and $117.0bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF.

IAU on its own →SGOV on its own →

At a glance

+2.7%

IAU total return, 1 year

+3.7%

SGOV total return, 1 year

0.25%

IAU expense ratio

0.09%

SGOV expense ratio

Pair scorecard

SGOV costs 0.16 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 1.0 point; SGOV is 1.9 times larger.

IAU vs SGOV: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IAU	SGOV
Return
Measure	IAU	SGOV
Total return, 1 year	+2.7%	+3.7%
Drawdown
Measure	IAU	SGOV
Below its high	24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	IAU	SGOV
What it tracks	Gold	ICE 0-3 Month US Treasury Securities Index
Cost and size
Measure	IAU	SGOV
Expense ratio	0.25%	0.09%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$60.3bn	$117.0bn
Holdings
Measure	IAU	SGOV
Holdings in common	not published

Method

Risk and return

Jun 5, 2020 to Oct 23, 2026 · 333 weekly returns

IAU SGOV

Return

Total return edge IAU +134.0% +20.8%

Annualized edge IAU +14.2% +3.0%

Price return edge IAU +134.0% +0.6%

Risk

Volatility edge SGOV 16.5% 0.3%

Max drawdown edge SGOV −24.1% 0.0%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge IAU 0.70 −0.46

Sortino edge IAU 1.06 −0.57

Calmar 0.59 Not measured

Reading

IAU returned more: +134.0% to +20.8%. SGOV swung less: 0.3% to 16.5%. SGOV fell less at its worst: 0.0% to −24.1%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: IAU vs SGOV: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IAU	SGOV	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	+134.0%	+20.8%	IAU	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	+14.2%	+3.0%	IAU	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	+134.0%	+0.6%	IAU	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	16.5%	0.3%	SGOV	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	10.9%	0.2%	SGOV	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−24.1%	0.0%	SGOV	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	0.70	−0.46	IAU	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	1.06	−0.57	IAU	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	0.59	Not measured		Annualized return divided by the max drawdown.

Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 333 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.

Side by side

IAU iShares Gold Trust SGOV iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF

Where it sits Commodity ETF Bond ETF

Issuer iShares iShares

What it is Holds gold Tracks an index of 0-3 month T-bills

Total return, 1 year +2.7% +3.7%

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% 0.09%

Holdings not counted 22

Net assets, IAU as of Oct 28, 2026 and SGOV as of Oct 27, 2026 $60.1bn $117.0bn

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

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-8C249D0C79

IAU and SGOV do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?

What each follows. IAU follows Gold and SGOV follows ICE 0-3 Month US Treasury Securities Index.
Cost. IAU charges 0.25% of assets a year and SGOV 0.09%, a gap of 0.16 points.
One-year total return (similar). Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 IAU returned +2.7% and SGOV +3.7% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 1.0 points.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

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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.

SGOV

SGOV tracks an index of 0-3 month T-bills. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +3.7% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, IAU or SGOV?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and SGOV +3.7%.
Which is cheaper, IAU or SGOV?: SGOV is cheaper, by 0.16 percentage points a year. That is about $16 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Other comparisons

BIL vs IAU IAU vs SHV IAU vs PULS IAU vs MINT SGOV vs SLV SGOV vs USO SGOV vs SIVR BWET vs SGOV

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

iShares page for IAU ↗

SGOV filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

SGOV prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for SGOV ↗

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

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

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

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