Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
NEAR vs VSDB: Differences, Returns & Fees
NEAR's duration was 2.1 years on Jul 31, 2026 and VSDB's 2.5 on Jun 30, 2026; VSDB charges 0.15% 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 $1.0bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Short Duration Bond ETF.
Pair scorecard
VSDB costs 0.10 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.1 points; NEAR is 5.1 times larger.
| Measure | NEAR | VSDB |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +1.8% | +1.7% |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | No index, actively managed | No index, actively managed |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.25% | 0.15% |
| Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026 | $5.1bn | $1.0bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 7% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jun 30, 2026 and Jul 31, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Apr 11, 2025 to Oct 23, 2026 · 80 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: NEAR against IUSB, Jun 20, 2014 to Oct 23, 2026; VSDB against AGG, Apr 11, 2025 to Oct 23, 2026.
VSDB returned more: +7.1% to +6.0%. NEAR swung less: 1.3% to 1.8%. NEAR fell less at its worst: −1.0% to −1.4%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | NEAR | VSDB | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +6.0% | +7.1% | VSDB | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +3.9% | +4.5% | VSDB | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −0.8% | +0.5% | VSDB | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 1.3% | 1.8% | NEAR | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 1.0% | 1.3% | NEAR | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −1.0% | −1.4% | NEAR | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 21.9% | 50.5% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 7.7% | 27.1% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.28 | 0.43 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.37 | 0.76 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | −0.10 | 0.29 | VSDB | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | −0.14 | 0.40 | VSDB | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.014 | 0.012 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 3.96 | 3.19 | 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 | +0.8% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.69 | 1.16 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.7% to +1.4% | −0.6% to +2.2% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.07 | 0.54 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 4.1% | 2.3% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 80 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, NEAR and VSDB 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 VSDB on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
NEAR and VSDB are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?
- 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 VSDB 0.15%, a gap of 0.10 points.
- Size. NEAR has $5.1bn in net assets and VSDB $1.0bn (net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026); NEAR is 5.1 times larger.
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.
VSDB
VSDB is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +1.7% with distributions reinvested, against −1.4% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, NEAR or VSDB?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, NEAR returned +1.8% and VSDB +1.7%.
- Which is cheaper, NEAR or VSDB?
- VSDB is cheaper, by 0.10 percentage points a year. That is about $10 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 VSDB, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/near-vs-vsdb
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). NEAR against VSDB. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/near-vs-vsdb
[NEAR against VSDB (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/near-vs-vsdb)
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