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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and SPSB +2.2%.

Which is cheaper, IAU or SPSB?

SPSB is cheaper, by 0.21 percentage points a year. That is about $21 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 SPSB: Differences, Returns & Fees

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IAU is a commodity fund and SPSB a bond index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IAU returned +2.7% against +2.2%.

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Net assets: $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust, and $11.3bn on Oct 27, 2026 for State Street SPDR Portfolio Short Term Corporate Bond ETF.

IAU on its own →SPSB on its own →

At a glance

+2.7%

IAU total return, 1 year

+2.2%

SPSB total return, 1 year

0.25%

IAU expense ratio

0.04%

SPSB expense ratio

Pair scorecard

SPSB costs 0.21 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.5 points; IAU is 5.3 times larger.

IAU vs SPSB: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IAU	SPSB
Return
Measure	IAU	SPSB
Total return, 1 year	+2.7%	+2.2%
Drawdown
Measure	IAU	SPSB
Below its high	24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	IAU	SPSB
What it tracks	Gold	Bloomberg U.S. 1-3 Year Corporate Bond Index
Cost and size
Measure	IAU	SPSB
Expense ratio	0.25%	0.04%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$60.3bn	$11.3bn
Holdings
Measure	IAU	SPSB
Holdings in common	not published

Method

Side by side

IAU iShares Gold Trust SPSB State Street SPDR Portfolio Short Term Corporate Bond ETF

Where it sits Commodity ETF Bond ETF

Issuer iShares State Street

What it is Holds gold Tracks an index of Short Term Corporate Bond

Total return, 1 year +2.7% +2.2%

Its benchmark over the same days +2.5% (GLD) −1.4% (AGG)

Gap to its benchmark +0.2 pts vs GLD +3.6 pts vs AGG

Expense ratio 0.25% 0.04%

Holdings not counted 1684

Net assets, IAU as of Oct 28, 2026 and SPSB as of Oct 27, 2026 $60.1bn $11.3bn

IAU and SPSB 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.

SPSB

SPSB tracks an index of Short Term Corporate Bond. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +2.2% with distributions reinvested, against −1.4% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.04% a year.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, IAU or SPSB?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and SPSB +2.2%.
Which is cheaper, IAU or SPSB?: SPSB is cheaper, by 0.21 percentage points a year. That is about $21 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Other comparisons

IAU vs IGSB IAU vs VCSH BSV vs IAU IAU vs JNK SLV vs SPSB SPSB vs USO GLD vs SPSB SIVR vs SPSB

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

iShares page for IAU ↗

SPSB filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

SPSB 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 SPSB, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-spsb

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