Which returned more over the last year, IWM or VWO?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IWM returned +14.1% and VWO +4.8%.

Which is cheaper, IWM or VWO?

VWO is cheaper, by 0.13 percentage points a year. That is about $13 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do IWM and VWO overlap with the S&P 500?

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

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

IWM vs VWO: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IWM returned +14.1% to VWO's +4.8%; 1% of their weight is in the same names.

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Net assets: $75.5bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares Russell 2000 ETF, and $125.4bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF.

IWM on its own →VWO on its own →

At a glance

+14.1%

IWM total return, 1 year

+4.8%

VWO total return, 1 year

0.19%

IWM expense ratio

0.06%

VWO expense ratio

Pair scorecard

VWO costs 0.13 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 9.3 points; VWO is 1.6 times larger.

IWM vs VWO: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IWM	VWO
Return
Measure	IWM	VWO
Total return, 1 year	+14.1%	+4.8%
Drawdown
Measure	IWM	VWO
Below its high	7.6%, high on Aug 14, 2026	7.0%, high on Sep 4, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	IWM	VWO
What it tracks	Russell 2000 Index	FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap China A Inclusion Index
Cost and size
Measure	IWM	VWO
Expense ratio	0.19%	0.06%
Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026	$78.0bn	$125.4bn
Holdings
Measure	IWM	VWO
Holdings in common	1%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	3.3%	29.8%

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

What they share

By the books each fund has filed, IWM and VWO hold 1% 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

1% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first IWM VWO

VALARIS LTD 0.19% 0.17%

SERVICETITAN CLASS A 0.17% 0.15%

BENCHMARK ELECTRONICS INC 0.09% 0.12%

ASBURY AUTOMOTIVE GROUP INC 0.12% 0.08%

STEWART INFO SERVICES CORP 0.04% 0.18%

OUTFRONT MEDIA 0.17% 0.04%

FIRST FINANCIAL CORPORATION CORP 0.03% 0.11%

TERADATA 0.11% 0.02%

IMPINJ 0.17% 0.02%

KARAT PACKAGING INC 0.02% 0.02%

ALPHA METALLURGICAL RESOURCE 0.06% 0.01%

RPC INC 0.02% 0.01%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in IWM

JFROG 0.37%

GLAUKOS 0.35%

TWIST BIOSCIENCE 0.35%

MOOG INC CLASS A 0.34%

BRIGHTSPRING HEALTH SERVICES INC 0.33%

UMB FINANCIAL 0.33%

SM ENERGY 0.32%

10X GENOMICS CLASS A 0.31%

Only in VWO

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd 15.76%

SLCMT1142 2.96%

Tencent Holdings Ltd 2.82%

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd 2.11%

MediaTek Inc 1.88%

MKTLIQ 0.95%

Delta Electronics Inc 0.95%

China Construction Bank Corp 0.91%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

IWM iShares Russell 2000 ETF VWO Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares Vanguard

What it is Tracks the Russell 2000 Tracks an index of Emerging markets

Total return, 1 year +14.1% +4.8%

Its benchmark over the same days +14.3% (VTWO) not measured

Gap to its benchmark −0.2 pts vs VTWO not measured

Expense ratio 0.19% 0.06%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 0.0%

Holdings 1977 6515

Net assets, IWM as of Oct 27, 2026 and VWO as of Sep 30, 2026 $75.5bn $125.4bn

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

Alert

About each fund

IWM

IWM tracks the Russell 2000. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +14.1% with distributions reinvested, against +14.3% for its benchmark, the Russell 2000 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.19% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 1,977 positions, with the top ten at 3.3%. It sat 7.6% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

VWO

VWO tracks an index of Emerging markets. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +4.8% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.06% 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 6,515 positions, with the top ten at 29.8%. It sat 7.0% below its high of Sep 4, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, IWM or VWO?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IWM returned +14.1% and VWO +4.8%.
Which is cheaper, IWM or VWO?: VWO is cheaper, by 0.13 percentage points a year. That is about $13 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do IWM and VWO overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of IWM and 0% of VWO by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

IEMG vs IWM EEM vs IWM AVEM vs IWM EMXC vs IWM VB vs VWO IJR vs VWO IWC vs VWO VTWO vs VWO

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

IWM filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

IWM prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for IWM ↗

VWO filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

VWO prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

Vanguard page for VWO ↗

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, IWM against VWO, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iwm-vs-vwo

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