Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
VOO vs ZJAN: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, VOO returned +13.7% to ZJAN's +5.5%, and VOO charges 0.03% to ZJAN's 0.79%.
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Net assets: $1.0tn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, and $106m on Oct 28, 2026 for Innovator Equity Defined Protection ETF - 1 Yr January.
Pair scorecard
VOO costs 0.76 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 8.2 points.
| Measure | VOO | ZJAN |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +13.7% | +5.5% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Index fall to the buffer | 11.6% | |
| Fund price fall to the buffer | 5.0% | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | S&P 500 Index | SPY |
| The outcome period | ||
| Buffer left, in index points | 100.0% of 100.0% | |
| Days left in the period | 64 | |
| Period ends | Dec 31, 2026 | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.03% | 0.79% |
| Net assets, VOO as of Sep 30, 2026 and ZJAN as of Oct 28, 2026 | $1.0tn | $106m |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 39.1% | |
Risk and return
Jan 10, 2025 to Oct 23, 2026 · 93 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: VOO against IVV, Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026; ZJAN against SPY, Jan 10, 2025 to Oct 23, 2026.
VOO returned more: +33.6% to +11.3%. ZJAN swung less: 2.7% to 15.0%. ZJAN fell less at its worst: −3.0% to −16.7%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | VOO | ZJAN | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +33.6% | +11.3% | VOO | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +17.6% | +6.2% | VOO | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +30.8% | +11.3% | VOO | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 15.0% | 2.7% | ZJAN | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 9.9% | 1.7% | ZJAN | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −16.7% | −3.0% | ZJAN | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 99.8% | 13.9% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 99.9% | 16.2% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 0.17 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 0.90 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.89 | 0.76 | VOO | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.35 | 1.17 | VOO | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.134 | 0.121 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 1.05 | 2.06 | ZJAN | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | IVV | SPY | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | 0.0% a year | −0.2% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.51 | −0.32 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.1% to +0.2% | −1.4% to +1.0% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.02 | −0.89 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.4% | 12.6% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 93 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
VOO and ZJAN on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
VOO and ZJAN do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. VOO follows S&P 500 Index and ZJAN follows SPY.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 VOO returned +13.7% and ZJAN +5.5% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 8.2 points.
- Cost. VOO charges 0.03% of assets a year and ZJAN 0.79%, a gap of 0.76 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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VOO
VOO tracks the S&P 500. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.7% with distributions reinvested, against +13.7% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 507 positions, with the top ten at 39.1%.
SPY had already risen past this fund's cap of +6.5% for the period on Oct 28, 2026, so in index terms there is no more upside to collect. The fund's own price can still drift up to about 1.3% as the period runs out.
The fund's price can fall 5.0% from here before the buffer starts absorbing losses, by the issuer's number. In index terms, SPY can fall 11.6% from today's level to the point where the buffer begins. Protection left, in index points: 100.0% of the 100.0% buffer still sits below today's SPY level. 64 days remained on Oct 28, 2026. On Dec 31, 2026 the period ends and a new cap is set.
Questions people ask
- Are VOO and ZJAN in the same category?
- VOO is a stock ETF and ZJAN is a buffer ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
- Which returned more over the last year, VOO or ZJAN?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, VOO returned +13.7% and ZJAN +5.5%.
- Which is cheaper, VOO or ZJAN?
- VOO is cheaper, by 0.76 percentage points a year. That is about $76 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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ETFIQ, VOO against ZJAN, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/voo-vs-zjan
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). VOO against ZJAN. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/voo-vs-zjan
[VOO against ZJAN (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/voo-vs-zjan)
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