Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
NEAR vs SPSB: Differences, Returns & Fees
NEAR's duration was 2.1 years on Jul 31, 2026 and SPSB's 1.8 on Jun 30, 2026; SPSB charges 0.04% to NEAR's 0.25%.
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Net assets: $5.2bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Short Duration Bond Active ETF, and $11.3bn on Oct 27, 2026 for State Street SPDR Portfolio Short Term Corporate Bond ETF.
Pair scorecard
SPSB costs 0.21 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.4 points; SPSB is 2.2 times larger.
| Measure | NEAR | SPSB |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +1.8% | +2.2% |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | No index, actively managed | Bloomberg U.S. 1-3 Year Corporate Bond Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.25% | 0.04% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 26, 2026 | $5.2bn | $11.2bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 7% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jun 30, 2026 and Jul 31, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Oct 4, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026 · 681 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: NEAR against IUSB, Jun 20, 2014 to Oct 23, 2026; SPSB against AGG, Dec 24, 2009 to Oct 23, 2026.
NEAR and SPSB returned about the same: +36.2% and +35.6%. NEAR swung less: 2.2% to 3.3%. NEAR fell less at its worst: −7.5% to −9.9%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | NEAR | SPSB | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +36.2% | +35.6% | Tie | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +2.4% | +2.4% | Tie | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +0.1% | −3.1% | NEAR | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 2.2% | 3.3% | NEAR | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 1.8% | 2.3% | NEAR | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −7.5% | −9.9% | NEAR | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 21.9% | 30.3% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 7.7% | 20.4% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.28 | 0.39 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.37 | 0.36 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.19 | 0.13 | NEAR | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.24 | 0.19 | NEAR | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.014 | 0.020 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.32 | 0.24 | NEAR | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | IUSB | AGG | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.4% a year | +0.4% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.69 | 0.78 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.7% to +1.4% | −0.7% to +1.6% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.07 | −0.03 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 4.1% | 3.6% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 681 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, NEAR and SPSB hold 7% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Jun 30, 2026 and Jul 31, 2026.
half
7% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
NEAR and SPSB on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
NEAR and SPSB are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?
- What each follows. NEAR follows No index, actively managed and SPSB follows Bloomberg U.S. 1-3 Year Corporate Bond Index.
- Holdings in common. 7% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Jun 30, 2026).
- Cost. NEAR charges 0.25% of assets a year and SPSB 0.04%, a gap of 0.21 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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NEAR
NEAR is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +1.8% with distributions reinvested, against −1.2% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Universal Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.25% a year.
SPSB
SPSB tracks an index of Short Term Corporate Bond. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +2.2% with distributions reinvested, against −1.4% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.04% a year.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, NEAR or SPSB?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, NEAR returned +1.8% and SPSB +2.2%.
- Which is cheaper, NEAR or SPSB?
- SPSB is cheaper, by 0.21 percentage points a year. That is about $21 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, NEAR against SPSB, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/near-vs-spsb
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). NEAR against SPSB. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/near-vs-spsb
[NEAR against SPSB (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/near-vs-spsb)
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