Are IBB and IWF in the same category?

IBB is a thematic ETF and IWF is a stock ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.

Which returned more over the last year, IBB or IWF?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IBB returned +37.5% and IWF +0.9%.

Which is cheaper, IBB or IWF?

IWF is cheaper, by 0.26 percentage points a year. That is about $26 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do IBB and IWF overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 40% of IBB and 94% of IWF by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

IBB vs IWF: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IBB returned +37.5% to IWF's +0.9%, and IWF charges 0.18% to IBB's 0.44%.

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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $11.0bn for iShares Biotechnology ETF and $124.7bn for iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF.

IBB on its own →IWF on its own →

At a glance

+37.5%

IBB total return, 1 year

+0.9%

IWF total return, 1 year

0.44%

IBB expense ratio

0.18%

IWF expense ratio

Pair scorecard

IWF costs 0.26 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 36.6 points; IWF is 11.3 times larger.

IBB vs IWF: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IBB	IWF
Return
Measure	IBB	IWF
Total return, 1 year	+37.5%	+0.9%
Drawdown
Measure	IBB	IWF
Below its high		4.8%, high on Oct 6, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	IBB	IWF
What it tracks	Biotech	Russell 1000 Growth Index
Cost and size
Measure	IBB	IWF
Expense ratio	0.44%	0.18%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$11.0bn	$124.7bn
Active share vs the S&P 500	99%
Holdings
Measure	IBB	IWF
Holdings in common	1%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	50%	57.5%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method

What they share

By the books each fund has filed, IBB and IWF hold 1% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.

50%

0 half 100%

half

1% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first IBB IWF

AMGEN INC 8.20% 0.52%

NATERA 3.85% 0.17%

REVOLUTION MEDICINES 2.50% 0.11%

ALNYLAM PHARMACEUTICALS 2.11% 0.09%

INSMED 1.42% 0.06%

MEDPACE HOLDINGS 1.06% 0.05%

HALOZYME THERAPEUTICS 1.01% 0.04%

ASCENDIS PHARMA 1.06% 0.04%

NEUROCRINE BIOSCIENCES 1.02% 0.04%

BRIDGEBIO PHARMA 0.85% 0.03%

MADRIGAL PHARMACEUTICALS 0.66% 0.02%

TEMPUS AI CLASS A 0.54% 0.02%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in IBB

GILEAD SCIENCES 8.56%

VERTEX PHARMACEUTICALS 7.53%

REGENERON PHARMACEUTICALS 5.64%

MODERNA 5.29%

ARGENX SE ADR 3.42%

ILLUMINA INC 2.93%

BIOGEN 2.58%

BEONE MEDICINES AG 2.15%

Only in IWF

NVIDIA 15.30%

APPLE 8.18%

MICROSOFT 5.94%

ALPHABET CLASS A 5.62%

BROADCOM INC 4.79%

ALPHABET CLASS C 4.53%

TESLA INC 3.58%

META PLATFORMS CLASS A 3.36%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

IBB iShares Biotechnology ETF IWF iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF

Where it sits Thematic ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares iShares

What it is Biotech Tracks the Russell 1000 growth

Total return, 1 year +37.5% +0.9%

Its benchmark over the same days not measured +1.1% (VONG)

Gap to its benchmark not measured −0.2 pts vs VONG

Expense ratio 0.44% 0.18%

Already in the S&P 500 40.2% 93.5%

Holdings 245 374

Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 $11.0bn $124.7bn

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

Alert

About each fund

IBB

By weight, 40% of IBB's portfolio is stocks that are also in the S&P 500; its active share against the S&P 500 is 99%. The top ten holdings are 50% of the fund across 245 positions, as published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 the fund returned +37.5% with distributions reinvested.

IWF

IWF tracks the Russell 1000 growth. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +0.9% with distributions reinvested, against +1.1% for its benchmark, the Russell 1000 Growth Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.18% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 94% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 374 positions, with the top ten at 57.5%. It sat 4.8% below its high of Oct 6, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Are IBB and IWF in the same category?: IBB is a thematic ETF and IWF is a stock ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
Which returned more over the last year, IBB or IWF?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IBB returned +37.5% and IWF +0.9%.
Which is cheaper, IBB or IWF?: IWF is cheaper, by 0.26 percentage points a year. That is about $26 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do IBB and IWF overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 40% of IBB and 94% of IWF by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

IBB vs SPYG IBB vs VONG IBB vs MGK IBB vs VOOG IWF vs XBI IWF vs LYTE AIRR vs IWF GDX vs IWF

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

IBB and IWF filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

IBB and IWF prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for IBB ↗

iShares page for IWF ↗

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

How this is computed

Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, IBB against IWF, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ibb-vs-iwf

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