VOO vs SPLG: Which S&P 500 ETF Wins on Fee in 2026?

Same index, same holdings. SPLG is 0.01% cheaper and has a low share price. VOO is 27x larger with tighter spreads.

Marginal fee edge vs. dominant liquidity. Either works.
VOO Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
vs
SPLG SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF
0.03%
Expense ratio
0.02%
$3
Annual cost / $10k
$2
$1.51T
AUM
$55B
Sep 7, 2010
Inception
Nov 8, 2005
518
Holdings
~500
~13.1%
10y CAGR (total return)
~13.0%
~1.2%
Dividend yield
~1.3%
Quarterly
Dividend frequency
Quarterly
Open-end ETF
Structure
Open-end ETF
Vanguard
Issuer
State Street (SSGA)

Investing $10,000 from Sep 2010 How this is calculated Dividends reinvested every month. Monthly adjusted-close prices from Yahoo Finance. Past performance doesn't predict future returns.

$
$
VOO
$—
Final portfolio value
Invested
Growth
Total return
Per year
SPLG
$—
Final portfolio value
Invested
Growth
Total return
Per year
Fee
SPLG is the cheapest at 0.02%
VOO $3.00 / $10k
SPLG $2.00 / $10k

SPLG at 0.02% is the cheapest S&P 500 ETF on the market, narrowly below VOO's 0.03%. Over 30 years on $100k at 8%, the extra fee on VOO adds up to about $700.

Share price
~$83 vs ~$653 per share

SPLG is priced at ~1/8 of VOO per share. Same exposure, different unit of account. With fractional shares it stops mattering; without them, SPLG means less leftover cash on small buys.

Size & liquidity
VOO is 27x larger

VOO holds $1.51T in assets vs SPLG's ~$55B. VOO is one of the most-traded ETFs in the world with tighter bid-ask spreads. For retail buy-and-hold this is invisible; at scale it matters.

Watch next Open this comparison
Is SPLG really cheaper than VOO?

Yes. SPLG charges 0.02%; VOO charges 0.03%. On a $10,000 position that's $2.00 vs $3.00 per year. Over 30 years on $100k at 8%, the gap compounds to about $700 - real but small next to a six-figure balance. SPLG is currently the cheapest S&P 500 ETF on the market.

Why is SPLG's share price so much lower than VOO's?

It's just a different unit of account. SPLG trades near $83, VOO near $653 — about 1/8 the price per share, same exposure per dollar invested. Share price has no bearing on performance, fees, or holdings. With fractional shares this difference stops mattering.

Is VOO safer than SPLG because it's bigger?

Not meaningfully. VOO holds $1.51T; SPLG holds about $55B. Both are large, established, healthy funds. At very large trade sizes VOO's tighter spread is a small real advantage, but for retail buy-and-hold investors it is invisible.

What are the main differences between VOO and SPLG?

Both are ETFs tracking the same S&P 500 index. The differences are at the margins: fee (0.03% vs 0.02%), issuer (Vanguard vs State Street), share price (~$653 vs ~$83), AUM ($1.51T vs $55B), and daily volume (VOO far higher). Holdings are essentially identical.

Does SPLG pay dividends?

Yes, quarterly, just like VOO. Both distribute the dividends paid by the underlying 500 companies after fund expenses. SPLG's slightly lower fee means a very slightly higher yield, but the gap is smaller than normal quarter-to-quarter variation.