VOO vs VTI: Side-by-Side ETF Comparison

VOO vs VTI both cost 0.03% and posted nearly identical 14% one-year returns, but VTI holds the entire U.S. market while VOO tracks only the S&P 500, giving VTI more mid- and small-cap exposure at a slightly lower 21.5 P/E versus VOO's 22.4.

Table of Content

• Annual & Cumulative Returns
• Risk Metrics
• Dividend Yield & Growth
• Fees & Liquidity
• ETF Composition: Asset Classes
• Regional Allocation
• Sector Weights
• Top 10 Holdings
• Valuation & Growth Metrics
• Which ETF Fits Your Portfolio?

ETF Issuers & Investment Objective

Both ETFs come from Vanguard, the company that pioneered index investing, so you're getting rock-bottom fees and no-nonsense management either way. VOO sticks to the S&P 500 - think Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and the other 497 giants that collectively make up about 80% of U.S. stock market value. It's betting on the biggest, most established companies, which explains why technology stocks dominate at 35% of the portfolio.

VTI casts a wider net. While it still holds all those S&P 500 companies, it adds exposure to mid-size and smaller companies that the S&P ignores. The result is a portfolio of roughly 4,000 stocks instead of 500, though the smaller companies only represent about 20% of total assets. This means VTI gives you the entire U.S. stock market in one fund, while VOO focuses purely on large-cap stocks. For most investors, the performance difference will be minimal - these two ETFs have nearly identical 1-year returns of 14.4% and 14.1% respectively.

Annual & Cumulative Returns

VOO edges out VTI over every trailing period except the current year: the S&P 500 tracker has compounded at 15.7% over the past decade versus 15.3% for the total-market fund, and the gap widens to 1.4 percentage points over the last five years. That small but steady advantage is what you'd expect when large-caps lead; VOO's 35% tech weighting (two points higher than VTI's) let it capture more of the mega-cap rally that has dominated this cycle.

What the raw percentages don't show is how little it usually matters: the annual difference has been inside 60 basis points more often than not, and VTI's slight year-to-date lead reminds us that when smaller caps perk up the relationship can flip quickly. Investors choosing between the two are really deciding whether they want to bet on the continued dominance of the biggest U.S. companies (VOO) or prefer the built-in diversification of an extra 3,000-odd smaller stocks (VTI) for almost identical expenses.

Risk Metrics

VOO edges out VTI on every volatility window: 10.99% versus 11.38% over the past twelve months and 11.96% versus 12.56% annualized over three years. The gap is narrow barely half a percentage point but it shows up consistently because the S&P 500’s large-cap focus trims the small-company turbulence that VTI has to absorb. In practical terms, a $100k position in VOO would have swung about $400 less each month, on average, than the same dollar amount in VTI.

That slightly smoother ride also feeds into risk-adjusted performance. VOO’s three-year Sharpe ratio of 1.4 tops VTI’s 1.29, meaning investors collected roughly 11% more return per unit of volatility. The difference isn’t dramatic both numbers are comfortably above 1.0 but it does suggest the total-market fund’s extra diversification hasn’t been rewarded enough, at least lately, to compensate for its higher risk. If you view even small volatility savings as valuable, VOO has the cleaner statistical profile; just remember the gap can close quickly whenever mid- and small-cap stocks sprint ahead.

Dividend Yield & Growth

VOO's 1.13% yield edges out VTI's 1.12%, but the gap barely registers at one basis point. Both funds send out quarterly payments, so the cash hits your account on the same schedule. The near-identical yields make sense: VTI holds the entire market while VOO owns just the mega-caps, and large companies dominate the dividend landscape anyway.

What matters more is that neither ETF chases yield. These are market-weighted baskets where dividend policy comes second to tracking their indexes. If you're building an income stream, you'll need to look elsewhere - these yields trail the 10-year Treasury and won't move the needle on portfolio income. The real play here is total return, where that extra 0.36% in VOO's one-year performance might compound into something meaningful over decades.

Fees & Liquidity

Both VOO and VTI charge the same razor-thin 0.03% expense ratio, so on a $10,000 position you're handing Vanguard about $3 a year roughly the price of a coffee. Because the fee is identical and negligible, the cost screen disappears; instead, focus on how you trade. VOO’s $10 billion-plus daily volume keeps the spread averaging one cent, meaning a market order on 100 shares usually costs you 2-3 cents in slippage. VTI trades even more contracts but holds thousands of micro-caps; spreads still sit at a penny most sessions, yet if you move size during the first or last fifteen minutes you’ll occasionally see two cents. Neither fund has ever closed at a premium or discount larger than 0.05% to NAV, so you’re not paying the hidden “friction” tax that haunts some niche products.

Liquidity differences only matter if you plan to trade options or swing size. VOO’s options chain lists weekly expirations with open interest in the tens of thousands, letting you collar or overwrite without moving the mark. VTI’s board is decent but about one-tenth as deep, so multi-contract spreads can cost an extra nickel. For buy-and-hold investors who rebalance quarterly, both tickers clear with limit orders at NAV; pick the market exposure you want and forget the fee table.

ETF Composition: Asset Classes

The numbers tell a simple story: both funds are almost entirely U.S. equities, with VOO holding 99.1% domestic stocks and VTI just a hair less at 98.8%. Neither fund strays much beyond American borders - less than 1% sits in non-U.S. companies. The tiny cash positions (0.2% in VOO, 0.4% in VTI) merely reflect daily fund operations, not strategic choices.

What's interesting is how these microscopic differences emerge. VTI's slightly higher cash allocation comes from managing a broader universe of 4,000 stocks versus VOO's 500, requiring more liquidity for creations and redemptions. The marginally higher international exposure in VTI likely stems from U.S.-listed companies with foreign operations that get classified as non-U.S. holdings. For practical purposes though, you're getting pure American equity exposure with either choice - the variance is too small to influence portfolio construction decisions.

Regional Allocation

Both VOO and VTI park essentially their entire portfolios on U.S. soil 99.47% and 99.49% respectively so from a geographic standpoint you're getting the same North-American heartbeat no matter which ticker you choose. The slivers that sit elsewhere are rounding-error small: each fund keeps about 0.11% in Asia emerging markets, and VTI adds a sprinkle of developed Asia (0.04%) and Latin America (0.06%) that VOO simply doesn't hold. In practice, these micro-weights move the needle only if a foreign listing rockets overnight, an event most investors will never notice.

What the numbers really tell you is that neither fund offers built-in international diversification; if the dollar surges or overseas markets rip higher, you won't participate in any meaningful way. VTI's micro-caps do give it a touch more "foreign revenue" exposure think tiny U.S. firms selling globally but that story shows up in sector mix, not on the regional breakdown. Bottom line: pick either ETF for pure domestic beta, but plan to pair it with a separate international holding if you want true geographic balance.

Sector Weights

Technology dominates both funds, but VOO's 35.1% weighting edges out VTI's 33.2%, reflecting how the S&P 500's large-cap focus amplifies mega-cap tech influence. The gap might seem small, yet it means VOO investors have nearly two percentage points more exposure to Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia - a difference that can swing returns during tech rallies or selloffs. Healthcare shows the reverse pattern, with VTI allocating 10.3% versus VOO's 9.6%, thanks to its inclusion of mid and small-cap biotech and medical device companies that don't make the S&P 500 cut.

Real estate illustrates the most striking divergence: VTI's 2.3% allocation doubles VOO's 1.8%, capturing REITs across all market caps while the S&P 500 only includes the largest players. Energy, utilities, and basic materials cluster tightly around 2-3% in both funds, suggesting these sectors matter less for differentiation than the tech-healthcare split. For investors, this means VTI offers slightly broader sector diversification, though the differences are modest enough that either fund provides reasonable balance - your choice likely hinges more on whether you want pure large-cap exposure or the full market spectrum.

Top 10 Holdings

The top five stocks are identical in both ETFs, but VOO concentrates more heavily in these mega-caps. NVIDIA leads VOO at 7.75% versus 6.56% in VTI - that's nearly a fifth more exposure to the AI chipmaker. The pattern repeats across the board: Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet each take roughly 0.5-0.75 percentage points larger slices of VOO's portfolio. This concentration effect makes sense since VOO tracks only the 500 largest companies while VTI spreads its bets across the entire U.S. market.

For investors, this means VOO delivers more concentrated exposure to market leaders. When mega-caps rally, VOO typically outperforms. When they lag, VTI's broader diversification across mid and small-caps provides ballast. The difference isn't dramatic - both ETFs remain dominated by the same tech giants - but it's measurable. Neither approach is inherently superior; it depends whether you want pure large-cap exposure or the full market spectrum with slightly less concentration risk.

Valuation & Growth Metrics

VOO trades at a 4% premium to VTI on a P/E basis 22.4 versus 21.5 and the gap widens when you look at price-to-book: 4.6 for the S&P 500 fund versus 4.1 for the total-market cousin. That higher tag is mostly the result of mega-cap tech names that dominate the large-cap index; their lofty valuations push VOO’s price-to-sales ratio to 3.2, a full 13% above VTI’s 2.9. In plain terms, you’re paying more for every dollar of current earnings and assets when you buy the S&P 500 slice alone.

Growth expectations tell a softer story. Wall Street’s long-term earnings-growth forecasts are nearly identical 10.5% for both funds yet VTI’s median holding has endured a brutal sales slump, with top-line growth down almost 40% over the trailing period compared with VOO’s still-positive 8%. The historical earnings record flips the script: VOO’s large caps delivered 10.2% annual profit growth, comfortably ahead of the 8.7% turned in by the broader market basket. Bottom line: VTI gives you a slightly cheaper entry valuation and a touch more long-run optimism, but you’re also absorbing the drag of smaller companies that are still licking their wounds from the recent slowdown.

Which ETF Fits Your Portfolio?

VOO gives you the 500 biggest U.S. companies in one shot: tech commands 35% of the portfolio, the P/E sits at 22.4, and the past year delivered 14.4%. That’s a tight, large-cap focus with a 1.13% yield and the same 0.03% fee you’d pay for a total-market fund. If you’re comfortable skipping mid- and small-caps, VOO is the cleaner bet.

VTI spreads the same 0.03% cost across the entire market, so you pick up the S&P 500 plus another 3,000-odd stocks. The extra breadth nudges the tech weight down to 33%, drops the P/E to 21.5, and trims the trailing return to 14.1% while the yield stays essentially flat at 1.12%. Investors who want one ticker for “all U.S. equities” will find VTI easier; those who prefer the most liquid, best-known names can stay with VOO and barely notice the difference in fees or income.

If you want to have look at other ETF comparisons, check out this: Fund Overlap Tool

Data sources: The data has been obtained from the ETF provider's website and ETF fact sheet.