SPY, VOO and IVV are the three largest ETFs tracking the S&P 500, with about $2.7 trillion in their exchange-traded shares between them in autumn 2026. They own essentially the same 500-odd companies in the same weights, so the differences that matter are narrower and more technical: what each charges, how each is legally built, how closely each has matched the index and how easily each trades. Every figure below comes from the issuers' fact sheets, prospectuses and annual reports, and none of it is a recommendation to buy any of the three. What is the S&P 500 explains the index itself, the SPY page has the price chart, and the stocks hub has the wider basics.
How do SPY, VOO and IVV compare at a glance?
They hold the same index, but SPY is an older, costlier unit investment trust, while VOO and IVV are cheaper open-end funds allowed to lend and use futures.
| Feature | SPY | VOO | IVV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF |
| Structure | Unit investment trust | ETF share class of the Vanguard 500 Index Fund, an open-end fund | Open-end ETF |
| Launched | January 22, 1993 | September 7, 2010 | May 15, 2000 |
| Expense ratio | 0.0945% | 0.03% | 0.03% |
| Assets | $813.6 billion (October 29, 2026) | $1.03 trillion in ETF shares; $1.73 trillion fund (September 30, 2026) | $870.0 billion (October 30, 2026) |
| How it tracks | Holds the index stocks at index weights | Full replication | Representative sampling |
| Securities lending | Not permitted | Permitted | Up to one-third of assets |
| Index futures | Not permitted | Used | May be used |
| 10-year NAV return vs index, to September 30, 2026 | 15.18% vs 15.33% | 15.29% vs 15.33% | 15.30% vs 15.32% |
| Value traded, first half of 2026 | $6.19 trillion | $758.7 billion | $766.5 billion |
| Dividends | Quarterly | Quarterly | Quarterly |
The rows that differ most are structure, cost and trading volume. The rows that barely differ, holdings and long-run returns, are the reason all three are close substitutes for most buy-and-hold investors.
What is the difference between a unit investment trust and an open-end ETF?
A unit investment trust like SPY must hold the index stocks and little else, while open-end funds like VOO and IVV may lend shares, use futures and keep cash invested.
SPY's prospectus says the trust is not authorized to lend its securities, borrow to invest, buy on margin, sell short or invest in derivatives such as futures, options or swaps. Dividends from its stocks are credited to a non-interest-bearing account and held until the quarterly payout, so that cash sits outside the market for weeks at a time, a small drag when stocks rise and a small cushion when they fall.
The trust has other unusual features. Shareholders cannot vote on its affairs except on termination and a few other matters, and the trustee votes SPY's stakes in each company in the same proportions as all other shareholders, which the prospectus calls mirror voting. It also has an end date: the trust is scheduled to terminate on January 22, 2118, or 20 years after the death of the last survivor of 11 people named in its trust agreement, whichever comes first.
VOO and IVV work differently. VOO is one share class of the Vanguard 500 Index Fund, which also issues mutual fund shares, and IVV is a standalone open-end ETF. Both funds may lend holdings for a fee and hold index futures so that incoming cash stays invested, and IVV lets eligible holders choose how their proxy votes are cast. The trust design is fading at the top of the market, too: QQQ, the other giant unit trust, became an open-end ETF in December 2025, and its fee fell to 0.18%. The QQQ page tracks its price, and what is the Nasdaq-100 covers its index.
How much do the fee differences cost?
SPY's expense ratio is 0.0945%, against 0.03% for VOO and 0.03% for IVV, a gap of about 0.065 percentage points a year.
On $100,000 that is about $94.50 a year in SPY against $30 in either rival, and the difference compounds because the money paid in fees stops growing.
Worked example: $100,000 in SPY vs VOO or IVV for 20 years
Suppose the index earns a steady 7% a year before costs, a round number chosen for illustration rather than a prediction, and that each fund's only drag is its expense ratio.
- SPY at 0.0945%: grows at 6.9055% a year to about $380,190, after about $3,834 in fees
- VOO or IVV at 0.03%: grows at 6.97% a year to about $384,804, after about $1,226 in fees
- Gap: $4,614, of which $2,608 is extra fees and the rest is growth those fees would have earned
- Using each fund's actual 10-year shortfall to the index instead, 0.15, 0.04 and 0.02 points: SPY about $376,262, VOO about $384,085 and IVV about $385,524, a gap to SPY of roughly $7,800 to $9,300
Trading costs can tilt the sums for very active traders. State Street's pre-trade estimates, published in August 2026, put the cost of a $25 million order worked over 30 minutes at about 0.15 basis points in SPY, 0.28 in IVV and 0.33 in VOO. For a $25 million holding, SPY's extra 6.45 basis points of yearly fees equal the estimated savings from roughly 36 to 50 such trades a year, a pattern that fits institutions rather than long-term savers. The figures are State Street's own analysis of its own fund. To try other amounts and periods, use the compound interest calculator with each fund's fee subtracted from the return.
Which fund tracks the S&P 500 most closely?
IVV and VOO have tracked the index most closely, trailing it by 0.02 to 0.04 percentage points a year, while SPY has trailed by about 0.15 points.
| NAV total return, with the gap to the index each issuer reports | SPY | VOO | IVV |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year to September 30, 2026 | 15.60% (−0.14) | 15.70% (−0.04) | 15.71% (−0.03) |
| 5 years, per year | 13.65% (−0.14) | 13.75% (−0.04) | 13.76% (−0.02) |
| 10 years, per year | 15.18% (−0.15) | 15.29% (−0.04) | 15.30% (−0.02) |
| Calendar 2025 | 17.73% (−0.15) | 17.84% (−0.04) | 17.85% (−0.03) |
SPY's shortfall runs slightly beyond its fee, consistent with dividend cash waiting uninvested between payouts, while VOO's and IVV's stay within about a hundredth of a point of theirs. The issuers calculate the index return slightly differently, so compare each fund with the benchmark figure in its own fact sheet. Gaps of a few hundredths of a point look trivial, but they have been consistent year after year, which is what makes them worth knowing.
Which has the deeper trading and options market?
SPY, by a wide margin: it averaged $50.3 billion of trading a day in the first half of 2026, about 79% of all S&P 500 ETF trading.
State Street's figures, which cover SPY, IVV, VOO and its own smaller SPYM, put SPY's total value traded in that half at $6.19 trillion, against $766.5 billion for IVV and $758.7 billion for VOO. SPY also accounted for 85.9% of S&P 500 ETF short interest and 99.2% of S&P 500 ETF options open interest on June 30, 2026, leaving the other three 0.8% of options open interest between them.
That depth matters most to institutions that hedge, lend and trade options in size. Cboe announced Tuesday and Thursday SPY expirations starting in November 2022, joining the Monday and Wednesday weeklies already listed and the long-standing Friday contracts, so SPY options can now expire on any weekday. Options basics explains how contracts work.
For someone buying a few shares, the difference is small. The posted 30-day median bid-ask spread was 0.00% for SPY on October 29, 2026 and 0.01% for IVV on October 30. State Street said in August 2026 that competing S&P 500 ETFs had year-to-date average spreads more than three times SPY's and that the gap tends to widen in market stress, a reason to use limit orders in any fund when markets are volatile.
How do the dividends and taxes of SPY, VOO and IVV differ?
All three pay quarterly dividends under the same tax rules, but SPY pays about six weeks after its ex-dividend date, while IVV pays within days.
SPY's prospectus fixes its ex-dividend date as the third Friday in the final month of each quarter, with payment on the last business day of the month after. IVV's September 2026 dividend went ex on September 15 and was paid on September 18, and VOO also pays quarterly. On October 29, 2026, SPY's distributions over the past year came to 0.99% of its NAV, below the S&P 500's 1.10% dividend yield, and its 30-day SEC yield was 0.95%, matching IVV's at the end of September.
Capital gains distributions have been rare. The Vanguard 500 Index Fund paid none in any year from 2021 through 2025, and IVV's ten most recent distributions were all income. Redemptions in kind help all three avoid selling stocks at a gain; ETFs vs mutual funds vs index funds explains the mechanism.
Switching between the three after a loss is a different matter. The wash-sale rule disallows a loss if you buy substantially identical securities within 30 days before or after the sale (a 61-day window), and three funds holding the same stocks invite that question. The wash-sale rule covers how funds are judged, and because the rules can change, a specific swap is worth checking with a tax professional.
What does SPY's price history show?
The table below shows how SPY's share price has moved over several periods, measured on price alone, so dividends of about 1% a year are left out.
| Asset | Last close | 1 year | 3 years (per year) | 5 years (per year) | 10 years (per year) | Worst drop from a high | Volatility (1 year) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPDR S&P 500 ETF | $755.72 | +11.2% | +22.1% | +10.5% | +13.5% | -56.5% (Mar 9, 2009) | 12.8% |
Because SPY, VOO and IVV hold the same stocks, their price paths are nearly identical in percentage terms; only the dollar price of a share differs. A single SPY share last changed hands at $755.71 (Nov 2, 2026), so buying one whole share of any of the three takes several hundred dollars unless your broker sells fractional shares.
What are the risks of SPY, VOO and IVV?
All three carry the full market risk of large US stocks, and owning more than one adds no diversification because the holdings are the same.
- Market declines. IVV's NAV fell 18.13% in 2022 and VOO's 18.15%. On $100,000, a drop of that size is about $18,000, roughly four times the 20-year fee gap worked out above. Bear markets and corrections puts such falls in context.
- Concentration. Information technology alone was 38.40% of SPY's portfolio and 38.35% of IVV's on October 29, 2026, so trouble at a handful of big tech names would hit all three hard.
- Structure. SPY cannot lend or use futures and holds its dividends in cash until payout. VOO and IVV take on securities lending risk, which IVV's prospectus describes as the chance that a borrower fails to return securities or that collateral loses value.
- Trading. Market prices can drift from NAV in stressed markets, and spreads can widen, especially in the smaller-volume funds.
- Changes to the fund. Fees, structures and even existence can change: SPY is scheduled to end by 2118 at the latest, and QQQ's 2025 conversion shows that sponsors do redesign big funds.
Types of investment risk maps these alongside inflation, liquidity and other risks.
How do you decide between SPY, VOO and IVV?
Start with how you will use the fund: long-term holders mostly face the fee gap, while frequent traders and options users weigh SPY's liquidity.
Questions that separate the three funds
- How long will you hold? For buy-and-hold accounts, the recurring difference is the fee: $64.50 a year on $100,000 between SPY and either rival.
- Will you trade large amounts often, or use options? SPY's volume and options market are far deeper.
- Do you want exact-dollar automatic investing? Vanguard 500 Index Admiral Shares hold the same portfolio as VOO in mutual fund form, for 0.04% and generally a $3,000 minimum.
- Is the account taxable? Selling one fund to buy another realizes any gain or loss.
- Does your broker sell fractional shares or charge commissions on any of the three?
Index funds explained covers the general checks for comparing any two index funds, and what is an ETF explains the creation and redemption process all three rely on.