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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and VT +13.5%.

Which is cheaper, IAU or VT?

VT is cheaper, by 0.19 percentage points a year. That is about $19 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 VT: Differences, Returns & Fees

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IAU is a commodity fund and VT an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, VT returned +13.5% against +2.7%.

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Net assets: $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust, and $81.8bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Total World Stock Index ETF.

IAU on its own →VT on its own →

At a glance

+2.7%

IAU total return, 1 year

+13.5%

VT total return, 1 year

0.25%

IAU expense ratio

0.06%

VT expense ratio

Pair scorecard

VT costs 0.19 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 10.8 points; VT is 1.3 times larger.

IAU vs VT: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IAU	VT
Return
Measure	IAU	VT
Total return, 1 year	+2.7%	+13.5%
Drawdown
Measure	IAU	VT
Below its high	24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	IAU	VT
What it tracks	Gold	FTSE Global All Cap Index
Cost and size
Measure	IAU	VT
Expense ratio	0.25%	0.06%
Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026	$62.2bn	$81.8bn
Holdings
Measure	IAU	VT
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight		55%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund		22.5%

Method

Risk and return

Jul 3, 2008 to Oct 23, 2026 · 955 weekly returns

IAU VT

Return

Total return edge VT +307.6% +371.6%

Annualized edge VT (slight) +8.0% +8.8%

Price return edge IAU +307.6% +221.4%

Risk

Volatility edge IAU (slight) 17.0% 18.3%

Max drawdown edge IAU (slight) −44.4% −48.3%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge VT (slight) 0.45 0.48

Sortino edge Tie 0.67 0.66

Calmar edge Tie 0.18 0.18

Reading

VT returned more: +371.6% to +307.6%. IAU swung slightly less: 17.0% to 18.3%. IAU fell slightly less at its worst: −44.4% to −48.3%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: IAU vs VT: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IAU	VT	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	+307.6%	+371.6%	VT	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	+8.0%	+8.8%	VT (slight)	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	+307.6%	+221.4%	IAU	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	17.0%	18.3%	IAU (slight)	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	11.5%	13.1%	IAU	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−44.4%	−48.3%	IAU (slight)	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	0.45	0.48	VT (slight)	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	0.67	0.66	Tie	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	0.18	0.18	Tie	Annualized return divided by the max drawdown.

Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 955 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.

Side by side

IAU iShares Gold Trust VT Vanguard Total World Stock Index ETF

Where it sits Commodity ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares Vanguard

What it is Holds gold Tracks an index of Total World Stock

Total return, 1 year +2.7% +13.5%

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% 0.06%

Holdings not counted 10194

Net assets, IAU as of Oct 28, 2026 and VT as of Sep 30, 2026 $60.1bn $81.8bn

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

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-CD6E99D540

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

What each follows. IAU follows Gold and VT follows FTSE Global All Cap Index.
One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 IAU returned +2.7% and VT +13.5% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 10.8 points.
Cost. IAU charges 0.25% of assets a year and VT 0.06%, a gap of 0.19 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.

VT tracks an index of Total World Stock. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.5% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.06% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 55% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 10,194 positions, with the top ten at 22.5%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, IAU or VT?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and VT +13.5%.
Which is cheaper, IAU or VT?: VT is cheaper, by 0.19 percentage points a year. That is about $19 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Other comparisons

ACWI vs IAU IAU vs URTH IAU vs VEU IAU vs VWO SLV vs VT GLD vs VT SIVR vs VT USO vs VT

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

iShares page for IAU ↗

VT filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

VT prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

Vanguard page for VT ↗

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

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

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

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