Which returned more over the last year, URTH or VPU?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, URTH returned +13.1% and VPU −3.3%.

Which is cheaper, URTH or VPU?

VPU is cheaper, by 0.15 percentage points a year. That is about $15 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do URTH and VPU overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 69% of URTH and 90% of VPU by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

URTH vs VPU: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, URTH returned +13.1% to VPU's −3.3%; 2% of their weight is in the same names.

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Net assets: $8.9bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares MSCI World ETF, and $7.7bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Utilities ETF.

URTH on its own →VPU on its own →

At a glance

+13.1%

URTH total return, 1 year

−3.3%

VPU total return, 1 year

0.24%

URTH expense ratio

0.09%

VPU expense ratio

Pair scorecard

VPU costs 0.15 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 16.4 points; URTH is 1.1 times larger.

URTH vs VPU: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	URTH	VPU
Return
Measure	URTH	VPU
Total return, 1 year	+13.1%	−3.3%
Drawdown
Measure	URTH	VPU
Below its high		8.9%, high on Feb 27, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	URTH	VPU
What it tracks	MSCI World Index	MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Utilities 25/50
Cost and size
Measure	URTH	VPU
Expense ratio	0.24%	0.09%
Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026	$8.2bn	$7.7bn
Holdings
Measure	URTH	VPU
Holdings in common	2%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	27.2%	52.3%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method

What they share

By the books each fund has filed, URTH and VPU hold 2% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.

50%

0 half 100%

half

2% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first URTH VPU

NEXTERA ENERGY 0.19% 11.39%

DEUTSCHE TELEKOM N AG 0.11% 1.83%

DUKE ENERGY CORP 0.11% 6.41%

SOUTHERN 0.11% 6.74%

CONSTELLATION ENERGY CORP 0.09% 5.72%

AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER INC 0.08% 4.66%

DOMINION ENERGY 0.06% 3.84%

SEMPRA 0.06% 3.68%

CONSOLIDATED EDISON 0.05% 2.72%

ENTERGY CORP 0.05% 3.34%

EXELON CORP 0.05% 2.98%

VISTRA 0.05% 3.37%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in URTH

APPLE 5.60%

NVIDIA 5.50%

MICROSOFT 4.12%

AMAZON.COM INC 2.69%

ALPHABET CLASS A 2.07%

BROADCOM INC 1.70%

ALPHABET CLASS C 1.62%

META PLATFORMS CLASS A 1.49%

Only in VPU

Talen Energy Corp 0.92%

Pinnacle West Capital Corp 0.81%

AES Corp 0.77%

Essential Utilities Inc 0.76%

OGE Energy Corp 0.68%

UGI Corp 0.55%

IDACORP Inc 0.52%

National Fuel Gas Co 0.49%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

URTH iShares MSCI World ETF VPU Vanguard Utilities ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares Vanguard

What it is Tracks the MSCI World Tracks an index of Utilities

Total return, 1 year +13.1% −3.3%

Its benchmark over the same days +13.4% (ACWI) −3.3% (FUTY)

Gap to its benchmark −0.3 pts vs ACWI 0.0 pts vs FUTY

Expense ratio 0.24% 0.09%

Already in the S&P 500 69.1% 89.7%

Holdings 1254 70

Net assets, URTH as of Oct 28, 2026 and VPU as of Sep 30, 2026 $8.9bn $7.7bn

URTH and VPU on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

Alert

About each fund

URTH

URTH tracks the MSCI World. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.1% with distributions reinvested, against +13.4% for its benchmark, the MSCI All Country World Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.24% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 69% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 1,254 positions, with the top ten at 27.2%.

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, URTH or VPU?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, URTH returned +13.1% and VPU −3.3%.
Which is cheaper, URTH or VPU?: VPU is cheaper, by 0.15 percentage points a year. That is about $15 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do URTH and VPU overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 69% of URTH and 90% of VPU by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

URTH vs XLU URTH vs VOX URTH vs VDE URTH vs VHT ACWI vs VPU VPU vs VT AVDV vs VPU VPL vs VPU

Where to next

URTH on its own →VPU on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →URTH dividend history →URTH holdings →VPU dividend history →VPU holdings →Standards and sources →

Sources and dates

URTH filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

URTH prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for URTH ↗

VPU filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

VPU prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

Vanguard page for VPU ↗

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, URTH against VPU, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/urth-vs-vpu

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Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.