Are IBB and VXF in the same category?

IBB is a thematic ETF and VXF 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 VXF?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IBB returned +37.5% and VXF +10.6%.

Which is cheaper, IBB or VXF?

VXF is cheaper, by 0.39 percentage points a year. That is about $39 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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

By their latest filed holdings, 40% of IBB and 0% of VXF by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

IBB vs VXF: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IBB returned +37.5% to VXF's +10.6%, and VXF charges 0.05% to IBB's 0.44%.

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Net assets: $11.0bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares Biotechnology ETF, and $30.2bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Extended Market ETF.

IBB on its own →VXF on its own →

At a glance

+37.5%

IBB total return, 1 year

+10.6%

VXF total return, 1 year

0.44%

IBB expense ratio

0.05%

VXF expense ratio

Pair scorecard

VXF costs 0.39 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 26.9 points; VXF is 2.7 times larger.

IBB vs VXF: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IBB	VXF
Return
Measure	IBB	VXF
Total return, 1 year	+37.5%	+10.6%
Drawdown
Measure	IBB	VXF
Below its high		6.6%, high on Aug 14, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	IBB	VXF
What it tracks	Biotech	S&P Completion Index
Cost and size
Measure	IBB	VXF
Expense ratio	0.44%	0.05%
Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026	$11.2bn	$30.2bn
Active share vs the S&P 500	99%
Holdings
Measure	IBB	VXF
Holdings in common	8%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	50%	11.3%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method

What they share

By the books each fund has filed, IBB and VXF hold 8% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.

50%

0 half 100%

half

8% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first IBB VXF

NATERA 3.85% 0.72%

REVOLUTION MEDICINES 2.50% 0.51%

ALNYLAM PHARMACEUTICALS 2.11% 0.40%

INSMED 1.42% 0.30%

UNITED THERAPEUTICS 1.71% 0.28%

ROIVANT SCIENCES LTD 1.33% 0.24%

EXELIXIS INC 1.09% 0.17%

NEUROCRINE BIOSCIENCES 1.02% 0.17%

MEDPACE HOLDINGS 1.06% 0.17%

TWIST BIOSCIENCE 0.71% 0.15%

HALOZYME THERAPEUTICS 1.01% 0.15%

BIOMARIN PHARMACEUTICAL 0.74% 0.14%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in IBB

GILEAD SCIENCES 8.56%

AMGEN INC 8.20%

VERTEX PHARMACEUTICALS 7.53%

REGENERON PHARMACEUTICALS 5.64%

MODERNA 5.29%

ARGENX SE ADR 3.42%

ILLUMINA INC 2.93%

BIOGEN 2.58%

Only in VXF

Space Exploration Technologies Corp 2.50%

SLCMT1142 2.26%

Snowflake Inc 1.42%

Cloudflare Inc 1.35%

Strategy Inc 0.67%

Astera Labs Inc 0.67%

Cheniere Energy Inc 0.67%

Twilio Inc 0.54%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

IBB iShares Biotechnology ETF VXF Vanguard Extended Market ETF

Where it sits Thematic ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares Vanguard

What it is Biotech Tracks an index of Extended Market

Total return, 1 year +37.5% +10.6%

Expense ratio 0.44% 0.05%

Already in the S&P 500 40.2% 0.0%

Holdings 245 3361

Net assets, IBB as of Oct 27, 2026 and VXF as of Sep 30, 2026 $11.0bn $30.2bn

IBB and VXF 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.

VXF

VXF tracks an index of Extended Market. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +10.6% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.05% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 3,361 positions, with the top ten at 11.3%. It sat 6.6% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Are IBB and VXF in the same category?: IBB is a thematic ETF and VXF 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 VXF?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IBB returned +37.5% and VXF +10.6%.
Which is cheaper, IBB or VXF?: VXF is cheaper, by 0.39 percentage points a year. That is about $39 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do IBB and VXF overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 40% of IBB and 0% of VXF by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

IBB vs MDY IBB vs VO IBB vs IJH IBB vs MOAT VXF vs XBI BITO vs VXF FPX vs VXF PDBC vs VXF

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

IBB filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

IBB prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for IBB ↗

VXF filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

VXF prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

Vanguard page for VXF ↗

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 VXF, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ibb-vs-vxf

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