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

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

Which is cheaper, IAU or VTIP?

VTIP 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.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

IAU vs VTIP: Differences, Returns & Fees

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IAU is a commodity fund and VTIP 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 $20.9bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund ETF Shares.

IAU on its own →VTIP on its own →

At a glance

+2.7%

IAU total return, 1 year

+2.2%

VTIP total return, 1 year

0.25%

IAU expense ratio

0.03%

VTIP expense ratio

Pair scorecard

VTIP costs 0.22 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.5 points; IAU is 3.0 times larger.

IAU vs VTIP: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IAU	VTIP
Return
Measure	IAU	VTIP
Total return, 1 year	+2.7%	+2.2%
Drawdown
Measure	IAU	VTIP
Below its high	24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	IAU	VTIP
What it tracks	Gold	Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) 0-5 Years Index
Cost and size
Measure	IAU	VTIP
Expense ratio	0.25%	0.03%
Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026	$62.2bn	$20.9bn
Holdings
Measure	IAU	VTIP
Holdings in common	not published

Method

Risk and return

Oct 26, 2012 to Oct 23, 2026 · 730 weekly returns

IAU VTIP

Return

Total return edge IAU +125.4% +35.7%

Annualized edge IAU +6.0% +2.2%

Price return edge IAU +125.4% −2.1%

Risk

Volatility edge VTIP 15.6% 2.3%

Max drawdown edge VTIP −40.0% −5.5%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge IAU 0.33 0.17

Sortino edge IAU 0.48 0.22

Calmar edge VTIP 0.15 0.40

Reading

IAU returned more: +125.4% to +35.7%. VTIP swung less: 2.3% to 15.6%. VTIP fell less at its worst: −5.5% to −40.0%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: IAU vs VTIP: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IAU	VTIP	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	+125.4%	+35.7%	IAU	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	+6.0%	+2.2%	IAU	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	+125.4%	−2.1%	IAU	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	15.6%	2.3%	VTIP	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	10.8%	1.7%	VTIP	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−40.0%	−5.5%	VTIP	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	0.33	0.17	IAU	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	0.48	0.22	IAU	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	0.15	0.40	VTIP	Annualized return divided by the max drawdown.

Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 730 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.

Side by side

IAU iShares Gold Trust VTIP Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund ETF Shares

Where it sits Commodity ETF Bond ETF

Issuer iShares Vanguard

What it is Holds gold Tracks an index of Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities

Total return, 1 year +2.7% +2.2%

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% 0.03%

Holdings not counted 26

Net assets, IAU as of Oct 28, 2026 and VTIP as of Sep 30, 2026 $60.1bn $20.9bn

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

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-A20728695C

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

What each follows. IAU follows Gold and VTIP follows Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) 0-5 Years Index.
Cost. IAU charges 0.25% of assets a year and VTIP 0.03%, a gap of 0.22 points.
Size. IAU has $62.2bn in net assets and VTIP $20.9bn (net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026); IAU is 3.0 times larger.

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.

VTIP

VTIP tracks an index of Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +2.2% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, IAU or VTIP?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and VTIP +2.2%.
Which is cheaper, IAU or VTIP?: VTIP 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.

Other comparisons

IAU vs IGIB BINC vs IAU IAU vs USHY IAU vs SCHP SLV vs VTIP GLD vs VTIP USO vs VTIP BWET vs VTIP

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

iShares page for IAU ↗

VTIP filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

VTIP prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

Vanguard page for VTIP ↗

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

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

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

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