Guide · US Large Cap
Best S&P 500 ETFs
The S&P 500 is 500 large US companies, committee-selected, covering about 80% of US market cap. VOO, IVV, and SPYM hold those names at the same weights. SPY is the 1993 original and still the most traded, but it is a unit investment trust, which is a slightly worse tax wrapper than the open-end structure the others use.
Published May 17, 2026 · Updated Sep 16, 2026 · Fund data as of Oct 24, 2026
Why the ranking looks like this
VOO, IVV, and SPYM track the same index. Score gaps are a few basis points of fee and AUM. The rest of the 18-fund large-cap category is Russell 1000, equal-weight, and other blend variants. SPY's UIT wrapper is why it trails the open-end funds on tax efficiency.
See the methodology for the full formula behind each sub-score.
The funds
This order is editorial. The composite on each card is live. The full score-ranked table is on the category page.
-
91
composite / 100
Vanguard's S&P 500 ETF. 3 basis points and the largest of the three by AUM (it passed SPY in assets in early 2025). The S&P 500 fund most often named on the Bogleheads forum.
- Expense
- 0.030%
- AUM
- $1.73T†
- Issuer
- Vanguard
- Detail
- VOO page →
-
91
composite / 100
iShares' S&P 500 ETF. Same 3 basis points as VOO; effectively the same fund with a different ticker. There is no fee or index difference to separate the two; which one a household holds usually comes down to which already sits in the account.
- Expense
- 0.030%
- AUM
- $881.27B
- Issuer
- iShares
- Detail
- IVV page →
-
91
composite / 100
State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF — traded as SPLG until the 2026 ticker change to SPYM. 2 basis points — the lowest-fee S&P 500 ETF on the market. Smaller AUM than VOO / IVV but functionally identical exposure. State Street's "portfolio" line of low-cost funds.
- Expense
- 0.020%
- AUM
- $173.63B
- Issuer
- State Street
- Detail
- SPYM page →
† Whole fund: this ETF is one share class of a fund that also sells mutual-fund shares, and the figure covers all of them. Our sources don't report the ETF class on its own.
Also in the category
Other funds in the same category, ranked by composite score.
S&P 500 vs total market
The S&P 500 covers the 500 largest US names — roughly 80% of investable US market cap. A total-market fund (VTI / ITOT / SCHB) extends that down through mid- and small-caps, adding ~3,000 more names that together make up the remaining 20%. Over long periods the return difference has been small; the total-market fund is mildly more diversified across the size factor at no extra cost.
TLH partners
VOO, IVV, and SPYM all track the same S&P 500 index, which makes them substantially identical for wash-sale purposes — they are not TLH partners for each other. A common TLH partner pair is VOO ↔ VTI (different index family, similar exposure) or VOO ↔ ITOT.
Funds are pulled from the live composite for this category. Notes are editorial and refresh with the catalog.
PlainIndex publishes data and editorial commentary — nothing here is personalized investment advice. Read the methodology for how the scores referenced here are computed.