Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
VOO vs ZJUL: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, VOO returned +13.7% to ZJUL's +5.4%, and VOO charges 0.03% to ZJUL's 0.79%.
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Net assets: $1.0tn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, and $193m on Oct 28, 2026 for Innovator Equity Defined Protection ETF - 1 Yr July.
Pair scorecard
VOO costs 0.76 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 8.3 points.
| Measure | VOO | ZJUL |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +13.7% | +5.4% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Index fall to the buffer | 3.2% | |
| Fund price fall to the buffer | 2.0% | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | S&P 500 Index | SPY |
| The outcome period | ||
| Room to the cap | 6.3% | |
| Buffer left, in index points | 100.0% of 100.0% | |
| Days left in the period | 245 | |
| Period ends | Jun 30, 2027 | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.03% | 0.79% |
| Net assets, VOO as of Sep 30, 2026 and ZJUL as of Oct 28, 2026 | $1.0tn | $193m |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 39.1% | |
Risk and return
Jul 12, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026 · 119 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: VOO against IVV, Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026; ZJUL against SPY, Jul 12, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026.
VOO returned more: +39.5% to +15.7%. ZJUL swung less: 4.3% to 14.9%. ZJUL fell less at its worst: −5.1% to −16.7%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | VOO | ZJUL | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +39.5% | +15.7% | VOO | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +15.7% | +6.6% | VOO | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +35.8% | +15.7% | VOO | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 14.9% | 4.3% | ZJUL | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 9.8% | 2.7% | ZJUL | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −16.7% | −5.1% | ZJUL | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 99.8% | 19.0% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 99.9% | 25.5% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 0.25 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 0.80 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.77 | 0.54 | VOO | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.18 | 0.83 | VOO | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.134 | 0.090 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.94 | 1.28 | ZJUL | 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 | −0.6% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.51 | −0.49 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.1% to +0.2% | −3.1% to +1.9% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.02 | −0.81 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.4% | 11.4% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 119 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
VOO and ZJUL on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
VOO and ZJUL do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. VOO follows S&P 500 Index and ZJUL follows SPY.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 VOO returned +13.7% and ZJUL +5.4% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 8.3 points.
- Cost. VOO charges 0.03% of assets a year and ZJUL 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%.
ZJUL
From its price on Oct 28, 2026, the fund can gain about 6.3% more before it reaches its cap. The fund's price can fall 2.0% from here before the buffer starts absorbing losses, by the issuer's number. In index terms, SPY can fall 3.2% 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. 245 days remained on Oct 28, 2026. On Jun 30, 2027 the period ends and a new cap is set.
Questions people ask
- Are VOO and ZJUL in the same category?
- VOO is a stock ETF and ZJUL 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 ZJUL?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, VOO returned +13.7% and ZJUL +5.4%.
- Which is cheaper, VOO or ZJUL?
- 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 ZJUL, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/voo-vs-zjul
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). VOO against ZJUL. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/voo-vs-zjul
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