Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
RSP vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, RSP returned +16.0% to SPY's +13.6%; 44% of their weight is in the same names.
askIQ about this page
askIQ about RSP and SPY
Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $99.8bn for Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF and $814.8bn for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.
Pair scorecard
SPY costs 0.11 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 2.4 points; SPY is 8.2 times larger.
| Measure | RSP | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +16.0% | +13.6% |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | S&P 500 Equal Weight Index | S&P 500 Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.20% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $99.8bn | $814.8bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 44% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 2.7% | 38.1% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
May 9, 2003 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,224 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: RSP against IVV, May 9, 2003 to Oct 23, 2026; SPY against VOO, Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026.
SPY returned slightly more: +1,143.6% to +1,085.5%. SPY swung slightly less: 17.1% to 18.8%. SPY fell slightly less at its worst: −54.6% to −59.6%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | RSP | SPY | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +1,085.5% | +1,143.6% | SPY (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +11.1% | +11.3% | Tie | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +726.1% | +710.8% | RSP (slight) | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 18.8% | 17.1% | SPY (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 13.2% | 12.0% | SPY (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −59.6% | −54.6% | SPY (slight) | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 104.7% | 99.8% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 102.9% | 100.0% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.07 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.92 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.56 | 0.61 | SPY (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.80 | 0.87 | SPY (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.098 | 0.133 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.19 | 0.21 | SPY | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | IVV | VOO | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.6% a year | −0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.57 | −0.51 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −2.8% to +1.5% | −0.3% to +0.1% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.02 | −0.15 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 5.4% | 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, 1,224 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, RSP and SPY hold 44% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.
half
44% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
RSP and SPY on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
RSP and SPY do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. RSP follows S&P 500 Equal Weight Index and SPY follows S&P 500 Index.
- Holdings in common. 44% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 RSP returned +16.0% and SPY +13.6% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 2.4 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
Free. It needs an email sign-in, once.
RSP
RSP tracks the S&P 500 equal weight. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +16.0% with distributions reinvested, against +13.7% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.20% 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 508 positions, with the top ten at 2.7%.
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, RSP or SPY?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, RSP returned +16.0% and SPY +13.6%.
- Which is cheaper, RSP or SPY?
- SPY is cheaper, by 0.11 percentage points a year. That is about $11 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.
Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown
ETFIQ, RSP against SPY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/rsp-vs-spy
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). RSP against SPY. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/rsp-vs-spy
[RSP against SPY (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/rsp-vs-spy)
Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.