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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and VHT +25.0%.

Which is cheaper, IAU or VHT?

VHT 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 VHT: Differences, Returns & Fees

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IAU is a commodity fund and VHT an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, VHT returned +25.0% against +2.7%.

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Net assets: $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust, and $19.1bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Health Care ETF.

IAU on its own →VHT on its own →

At a glance

+2.7%

IAU total return, 1 year

+25.0%

VHT total return, 1 year

0.25%

IAU expense ratio

0.09%

VHT expense ratio

Pair scorecard

VHT costs 0.16 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 22.3 points; IAU is 3.3 times larger.

IAU vs VHT: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IAU	VHT
Return
Measure	IAU	VHT
Total return, 1 year	+2.7%	+25.0%
Drawdown
Measure	IAU	VHT
Below its high	24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	IAU	VHT
What it tracks	Gold	MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Health Care 25/50
Cost and size
Measure	IAU	VHT
Expense ratio	0.25%	0.09%
Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026	$62.2bn	$19.1bn
Holdings
Measure	IAU	VHT
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight		86%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund		51.8%

Method

Side by side

IAU iShares Gold Trust VHT Vanguard Health Care ETF

Where it sits Commodity ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares Vanguard

What it is Holds gold Tracks an index of Health Care

Total return, 1 year +2.7% +25.0%

Its benchmark over the same days +2.5% (GLD) +25.4% (FHLC)

Gap to its benchmark +0.2 pts vs GLD −0.4 pts vs FHLC

Expense ratio 0.25% 0.09%

Holdings not counted 414

Net assets, IAU as of Oct 28, 2026 and VHT as of Sep 30, 2026 $60.1bn $19.1bn

IAU and VHT 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.

VHT

VHT tracks an index of Health Care. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +25.0% with distributions reinvested, against +25.4% for its benchmark, the MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Health Care 25/50. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 86% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 414 positions, with the top ten at 51.8%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, IAU or VHT?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and VHT +25.0%.
Which is cheaper, IAU or VHT?: VHT 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

IAU vs XLV IAU vs XLI IAU vs XLC IAU vs XLY SLV vs VHT USO vs VHT SIVR vs VHT GLD vs VHT

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

iShares page for IAU ↗

VHT filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

VHT prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

Vanguard page for VHT ↗

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

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

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