The Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (NYSEMKT:VTI) and the iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF (NYSEMKT:ITOT) are nearly indistinguishable in cost and performance, though the Vanguard fund manages a vastly larger asset base.
Investors looking for a single fund to capture the entire American equity market often find themselves choosing between these two industry giants. These exchange-traded funds (ETFs) allow investors to own a piece of nearly every publicly traded company in the United States, providing a diversified foundation for any long-term portfolio without the need to pick individual stocks or manage complex rebalancing strategies manually while maintaining high liquidity for easy trading.
Snapshot (cost & size)
Beta measures price volatility relative to the S&P 500; beta is calculated from five-year monthly returns. The 1-yr return represents total return over the trailing 12 months. Dividend yield is the trailing-12-month distribution yield.
Cost is a neutral factor in this matchup as both funds carry an exceptionally low 0.03% expense ratio. This ranks among the most affordable options in the industry. Dividend payouts are also closely matched, with both funds offering a 1% yield to shareholders as of June 17, 2026.
Performance & risk comparison
What’s inside
Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF provides broad exposure across the entire U.S. market with 3,484 holdings. Its largest positions include Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) at 6.71%, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) at 6.30%, and Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) at 4.60%. The portfolio tilts toward technology at 37%, financial services at 11.3%, and communication services at 9.8%. This fund, which launched in 2001, has paid $3.77 per share over the trailing 12 months. It follows a passive strategy and maintains full investment in its assets to closely track its benchmark index, the CSRP U.S. Total Market Index.
iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF tracks a different comprehensive benchmark, the S&P Total Market Index. Top holdings of its 2,490-stock portfolio include Nvidia Corp at 7%, Apple at 6.3%, and Microsoft at 4.6%. Sector weightings are led by technology at 37.2%, financial services at 11.4%, and consumer cyclical at 9.8%. The iShares fund launched in 2004 and has a trailing-12-month dividend of $1.65 per share.
