Top 10 ETFs, ranked by cost, return, volatility and volume
112 US-listed ETFs pass our checks and are ranked on cost, 5-year return, volatility and trading volume. The ranking follows fixed rules and is not a recommendation: high-ranking funds can still fall. Data as of 22 Oct 2026.
out of 100
- Yield
- 1.01%
- Cost
- 0.02%
- 5Y/yr
- +12.6%
- Volatility
- 13%
Ranks 2 to 10
-
2
VOOVanguard S&P 500
82
- Yield
- 1.06%
- Cost
- 0.03%
- 5Y/yr
- +12.6%
- Volatility
- 13%
-
3
VTVVanguard Value
82
- Yield
- 1.84%
- Cost
- 0.03%
- 5Y/yr
- +12.2%
- Volatility
- 10%
-
4
IVViShares Core S&P 500
81
- Yield
- 1.09%
- Cost
- 0.03%
- 5Y/yr
- +12.6%
- Volatility
- 13%
-
5
SCHBSchwab U.S. Broad Market
79
- Yield
- 1.05%
- Cost
- 0.03%
- 5Y/yr
- +11.4%
- Volatility
- 13%
-
6
SPYVSPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Value
77
- Yield
- 1.65%
- Cost
- 0.04%
- 5Y/yr
- +11.6%
- Volatility
- 10%
-
7
VTIVanguard Total Stock Market
76
- Yield
- 1.05%
- Cost
- 0.03%
- 5Y/yr
- +11.4%
- Volatility
- 13%
-
8
HDViShares Core High Dividend
74
- Yield
- 3.14%
- Cost
- 0.08%
- 5Y/yr
- +13.3%
- Volatility
- 12%
-
9
SCHGSchwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth
74
- Yield
- 0.40%
- Cost
- 0.04%
- 5Y/yr
- +12.8%
- Volatility
- 17%
-
10
SCHVSchwab U.S. Large-Cap Value
72
- Yield
- 1.81%
- Cost
- 0.04%
- 5Y/yr
- +10.3%
- Volatility
- 11%
How this list is ranked
- Universe. US-listed broad equity ETFs that StocksXray groups as S&P 500, total market, Nasdaq-100, growth, value, dividend, international, emerging, mid-cap, small-cap or equal-weight by name rules; leveraged, inverse, volatility, covered-call, bond, crypto and commodity funds are excluded; at least 5 years of history and 500,000 shares traded a day; a reported expense ratio.
- Score. Percentile rank against the other funds on each check, then a weighted sum: cost 35%, 5-year return 30%, volatility 20%, trading volume 15%. A score of 100 would mean first on every check.
- Data. Cost is the net expense ratio from SEC filings. Returns include distributions. Volatility is the 1-year standard deviation of daily returns. Yield is the last 12 months of split-restated distributions divided by the latest price. All figures are our own calculations, dated 22 Oct 2026.
- Limits. A ranking by past figures is not a forecast. Different weights give a different order. Check the fund page and the issuer documents before you decide.
Why a ranking by stated rules and not a "best" label: the order changes with the rules, so the rules are published next to the list. See also how the X-Ray Score works.
Why cost carries the biggest weight
Most funds on this list follow broad indexes, and several of them follow the same one: a handful of S&P 500 funds from different issuers hold practically the same 500 shares in the same proportions. When the holdings are the same, what separates the funds is what they cost and how easily you can buy and sell them, which is why cost has the largest weight (35%) and trading volume has 15%. Five-year return carries 30% and volatility 20%, to reward funds that have delivered and been steady, but between near-identical funds the return gap is mostly noise and rounding.
Reading small gaps
The score is a percentile rank among 112 funds, so a difference of 0.01 percentage points in the expense ratio can move a fund several places. That does not make one fund meaningfully better than its neighbour: on a $10,000 holding, 0.01 percentage points is one dollar a year. Treat adjacent ranks as ties, and use the list to narrow a large field to a few funds worth reading about, not to pick a single winner by one place.
What the current ranking shows
The ten funds charge between 0.02% and 0.08% a year and have returned between 10.3% and 13.3% a year over five years, including distributions. They come from these issuers: 3 from Vanguard, 3 from Charles Schwab, 2 from State Street (SPDR), 2 from iShares (BlackRock). The leader, SPYM, ranks first on the combination, not on any single check, and the chips under each fund say where it is top three.
What is left out, and why
The universe is broad US equity funds: S&P 500, total market, Nasdaq-100, growth, value, dividend, international, emerging, mid-cap, small-cap and equal-weight, as grouped by our name rules. Bond, gold, silver, crypto, commodity, covered-call, volatility, leveraged and inverse funds are excluded because cost, return and volatility do not mean the same thing for them: a covered-call fund's yield and a leveraged fund's decay would distort a ranking designed for plain equity funds. A fund also needs five years of history and 500,000 shares traded a day.
Questions about these ETFs
Why are bond ETFs and gold ETFs not ranked here?
The rules (cost, five-year return, volatility, volume) are built for equity index funds. Bond, gold, crypto, covered-call and leveraged funds behave differently, so they are on their own pages and are not mixed into this ranking.
Is the cheapest fund automatically first?
No. Cost is 35% of the score, so a slightly dearer fund with a stronger return, calmer price or heavier trading can outrank a cheaper one. The "Lowest cost" chip shows where a fund is top three on cost.
Why do several S&P 500 funds with nearly identical holdings appear?
Because they are different funds from different issuers. They score close together; the differences are cost, trading volume and tiny return gaps.
Are the returns after fees?
Returns are total returns from the fund's own price history, so they already reflect the fund's expenses and include distributions. They are not adjusted for your taxes.
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Educational ranking by stated rules, not investment advice. Figures are StocksXray calculations from public filings and exchange data; they can be wrong or out of date. Past performance does not predict future results.