Compare ETFs
Not sure what an ETF is? Start here
Putting two funds side by side is the fastest way to see where they actually differ: what they cost, what they hold, and how they have behaved.
Type the name or the ticker: VOO, SPY, QQQ, VTI. The search accepts either and shows you the whole fund before you add it.
The tool lays them out in columns with the same metrics in the same order, so the difference stands out instead of having to be hunted for.
Cost, performance, risk, dividends and holdings, one under the other. There is no single right answer. What changes is which difference matters to you.
Seven differences explain almost everything that separates two funds that look identical on paper.
The expense ratio is deducted from the fund's value every day; it never arrives as a separate charge. Between 0.03% and 0.60% there is a twentyfold gap, and it compounds over decades.
Always compare the same period across every fund. One exceptional year can say more about the window you picked than about the fund. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
A physical ETF buys the index's shares. A synthetic one reproduces it through a contract with a bank: it can track the index more precisely, but it adds counterparty risk.
A large, heavily traded fund tends to have tighter bid-ask spreads. In small funds that spread can cost you more than the entire annual fee.
A distributing ETF pays dividends out to you; an accumulating one reinvests them inside the fund. The choice changes your cash flow and, depending on your country, your tax bill too.
Two ETFs with very different names can share their ten largest holdings. Buying both does not diversify. It concentrates. The tool shows you how much they really overlap.
Most US-listed ETFs trade in dollars. If your expenses are in pesos, soles or reais, the exchange rate weighs on your result as much as the fund itself does.
VOO, SPY and IVV all track the S&P 500, so their holdings are near-identical. What separates them is the expense ratio, the fund's size and the manager that issues them: SPY is the oldest and the most heavily traded, while VOO and IVV tend to charge less. In cases like this the comparison stops being about which index you want and becomes about how much you pay to track it.
An ETF and a traditional index fund can also track the same index and be bought in very different ways. An ETF is listed on an exchange and trades throughout the session, like a share; an index fund is subscribed and redeemed once a day, at the closing net asset value. That changes trading costs, the minimum amount and, in several Latin American countries, the tax treatment as well.
This comparison is information, not financial advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results.