IWY vs VUG: Differences, Returns & Fees
IWY and VUG hold 76% of their weight in the same names, and VUG returned +10.2% over the year. Net assets: $15.8bn on Oct 20, 2026 for iShares Russell Top 200 Growth ETF, and $232.9bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Morningstar Growth ETF.
VUG costs 0.17 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 5.5 points; VUG is 14.2 times larger.
| IWY | VUG | |
|---|---|---|
| Expense ratio | 0.20% | 0.03% |
| Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026 | $16.4bn | $232.9bn |
| Total return, 1 year | +4.7% | +10.2% |
| What it tracks | Russell Top 200 Growth Index | Morningstar US Large Cap Growth Index |
| Holdings in common | 76% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 60.9% | 63.1% |
| Below its high | 5.2%, high on Oct 6, 2026 | 4.3%, high on Oct 6, 2026 |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 19, 2026.
IWY and VUG are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?
- What each follows. IWY follows Russell Top 200 Growth Index and VUG follows Morningstar US Large Cap Growth Index.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 20, 2026 IWY returned +4.7% and VUG +10.2% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 5.5 points.
- Cost. IWY charges 0.20% of assets a year and VUG 0.03%, a gap of 0.17 points.
Data as of Oct 20, 2026. The differences are picked by a fixed rule, in a fixed order; the PDF prints it. Page 2 has the returns, overlap, risks and sources.
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What they hold in common
By the books each fund has filed, IWY and VUG hold 76% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 19, 2026.
half
76% in common
On the same fields
IWY and VUG on the fields both publish, as of Oct 20, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
About IWY
IWY tracks an index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.20% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 19, 2026, 99% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 102 positions, with the top ten at 60.9%. It sat 5.2% below its high of Oct 6, 2026 on Oct 20, 2026.
Over the year to Oct 20, 2026 it returned +4.7% with distributions reinvested, against +15.0% for its benchmark, the Russell 3000 Index.
About VUG
VUG tracks an index of US growth. Over the year to Oct 20, 2026 it returned +10.2% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 97% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 137 positions, with the top ten at 63.1%. It sat 4.3% below its high of Oct 6, 2026 on Oct 20, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, IWY or VUG?
- In the year to Oct 20, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IWY returned +4.7% and VUG +10.2%.
- Which is cheaper, IWY or VUG?
- VUG is cheaper, by 0.17 percentage points a year. That is about $17 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure; a link is not an endorsement. 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, IWY against VUG, data as of Oct 20, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iwy-vs-vug
ETFIQ. (Oct 20, 2026). IWY against VUG. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iwy-vs-vug
[IWY against VUG (ETFIQ, Oct 20, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iwy-vs-vug)
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