Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
IAU vs VTI: Differences, Returns & Fees
IAU is a commodity fund and VTI an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, VTI returned +13.5% against +2.7%.
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Net assets: $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust, and $689.2bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Morningstar Total Stock Market ETF.
Pair scorecard
VTI costs 0.22 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 10.8 points; VTI is 11.1 times larger.
| Measure | IAU | VTI |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +2.7% | +13.5% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Gold | Morningstar US Total Market Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.25% | 0.03% |
| Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026 | $62.2bn | $689.2bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 88% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 34.7% | |
Risk and return
Feb 4, 2005 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,133 weekly returnsVTI returned slightly more: +838.8% to +805.4%. IAU swung slightly less: 17.4% to 17.9%. IAU fell less at its worst: −44.4% to −54.8%.
Full scorecard
9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | IAU | VTI | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +805.4% | +838.8% | VTI (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +10.6% | +10.8% | Tie | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +805.4% | +536.8% | IAU | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 17.4% | 17.9% | IAU (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 11.9% | 12.6% | IAU (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −44.4% | −54.8% | IAU | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.56 | 0.56 | Tie | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.82 | 0.80 | IAU (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Calmar | 0.24 | 0.20 | IAU | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,133 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
IAU and VTI on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
IAU and VTI do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. IAU follows Gold and VTI follows Morningstar US Total Market Index.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 IAU returned +2.7% and VTI +13.5% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 10.8 points.
- Cost. IAU charges 0.25% of assets a year and VTI 0.03%, a gap of 0.22 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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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.
VTI
VTI tracks an index of US total market. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.5% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 88% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 3,521 positions, with the top ten at 34.7%.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, IAU or VTI?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and VTI +13.5%.
- Which is cheaper, IAU or VTI?
- VTI is cheaper, by 0.22 percentage points a year. That is about $22 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.
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ETFIQ, IAU against VTI, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-vti
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). IAU against VTI. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-vti
[IAU against VTI (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-vti)
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