Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
IWF vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IWF returned +0.9% to SPY's +13.6%; 57% of their weight is in the same names.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $124.7bn for iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF and $814.8bn for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.
Pair scorecard
SPY costs 0.09 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 12.7 points; SPY is 6.5 times larger.
| Measure | IWF | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +0.9% | +13.6% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 4.8%, high on Oct 6, 2026 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Russell 1000 Growth Index | S&P 500 Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.18% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $124.7bn | $814.8bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 57% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 57.5% | 38.1% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Jun 2, 2000 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,377 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: IWF against VONG, Oct 1, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026; SPY against VOO, Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026.
SPY returned more: +721.0% to +629.2%. SPY swung slightly less: 17.4% to 19.1%. SPY fell less at its worst: −54.6% to −63.4%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | IWF | SPY | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +629.2% | +721.0% | SPY | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +7.8% | +8.3% | SPY (slight) | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +457.0% | +414.0% | IWF (slight) | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 19.1% | 17.4% | SPY (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 13.5% | 12.4% | SPY (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −63.4% | −54.6% | SPY | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 99.8% | 99.8% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.1% | 100.0% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.40 | 0.44 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.56 | 0.62 | SPY (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.149 | 0.133 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.12 | 0.15 | SPY | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | VONG | VOO | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.1% a year | −0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.58 | −0.51 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.6% to +0.3% | −0.3% to +0.1% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.11 | −0.15 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 1.0% | 0.4% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,377 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, IWF and SPY hold 57% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.
half
57% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
IWF and SPY on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
IWF and SPY do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. IWF follows Russell 1000 Growth Index and SPY follows S&P 500 Index.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 IWF returned +0.9% and SPY +13.6% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 12.7 points.
- Size. IWF has $124.7bn in net assets and SPY $814.8bn (net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026); SPY is 6.5 times larger.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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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.
SPY
SPY tracks the S&P 500. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.6% with distributions reinvested, against +13.7% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 504 positions, with the top ten at 38.1%.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, IWF or SPY?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IWF returned +0.9% and SPY +13.6%.
- Which is cheaper, IWF or SPY?
- SPY is cheaper, by 0.09 percentage points a year. That is about $9 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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.
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ETFIQ, IWF against SPY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iwf-vs-spy
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[IWF against SPY (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iwf-vs-spy)
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