Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
RSP vs VPU: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, RSP returned +16.0% to VPU's −3.3%; 6% of their weight is in the same names.
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Net assets: $99.8bn on Oct 27, 2026 for Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF, and $7.7bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Utilities ETF.
Pair scorecard
VPU costs 0.11 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 19.3 points.
| Measure | RSP | VPU |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +16.0% | −3.3% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 8.9%, high on Feb 27, 2026 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | S&P 500 Equal Weight Index | MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Utilities 25/50 |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.20% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, RSP as of Oct 27, 2026 and VPU as of Sep 30, 2026 | $99.8bn | $7.7bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 6% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 2.7% | 52.3% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Feb 6, 2004 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,185 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: RSP against IVV, May 9, 2003 to Oct 23, 2026; VPU against FUTY, Nov 1, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026.
RSP returned more: +781.9% to +683.7%. VPU swung slightly less: 17.6% to 19.0%. VPU fell less at its worst: −44.9% to −59.6%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | RSP | VPU | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +781.9% | +683.7% | RSP | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +10.0% | +9.5% | RSP (slight) | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +519.4% | +273.2% | RSP | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 19.0% | 17.6% | VPU (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 13.4% | 12.5% | VPU (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −59.6% | −44.9% | VPU | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 104.7% | 100.2% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 102.9% | 100.1% | 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 | 0.50 | 0.50 | Tie | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.71 | 0.70 | Tie | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.098 | 0.087 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.17 | 0.21 | VPU | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | IVV | FUTY | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.6% a year | 0.0% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.57 | −0.21 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −2.8% to +1.5% | −0.4% to +0.3% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.02 | 0.00 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 5.4% | 0.6% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,185 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, RSP and VPU hold 6% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.
half
6% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
RSP and VPU on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
RSP and VPU do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. RSP follows S&P 500 Equal Weight Index and VPU follows MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Utilities 25/50.
- Holdings in common. 6% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Sep 30, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 RSP returned +16.0% and VPU −3.3% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 19.3 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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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%.
VPU
VPU tracks an index of Utilities. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −3.3% with distributions reinvested, against −3.3% for its benchmark, the MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Utilities 25/50. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 90% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 70 positions, with the top ten at 52.3%. It sat 8.9% below its high of Feb 27, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, RSP or VPU?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, RSP returned +16.0% and VPU −3.3%.
- Which is cheaper, RSP or VPU?
- VPU 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.
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ETFIQ, RSP against VPU, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/rsp-vs-vpu
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). RSP against VPU. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/rsp-vs-vpu
[RSP against VPU (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/rsp-vs-vpu)
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