AAEQ vs GUSA

AAEQBAlpha Architect US Equity 2 ETF

GUSABGoldman Sachs MarketBeta US 1000 Equity ETF

In short

AAEQ Plain US beta with a size floor: market-cap-weighted exposure to American stocks worth at least $1 billion, for 0.09% a year. It launched in December 2025, so the strategy is old-fashioned but the fund itself is brand new.

GUSA Goldman's core beta, priced like plumbing: about 1,000 US stocks for 0.10% a year. It reaches past the famous 500 into mid caps and hugs its Solactive benchmark tightly. The trade-off is thin trading.

Stated mandate

AAEQ The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation through broadly diversified exposure to the U.S. stock market, using market-cap-weighted exposure to U.S. stocks with market capitalization of at least $1 billion.

GUSA The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Solactive GBS United States 1000 Index. It generally invests at least 80% of assets in securities included in that index or related depositary receipts.

Why people hold it

• AAEQ 0.09% a year, under half what the typical fund in its peer group charges.
• Boring by design: market-cap weighting, no stock picking, and a $1 billion size floor that screens out the market's smallest names.alphaarchitect.com
• The stated mandate is broad diversification across the US market, not a concentrated wager on a handful of names or one sector.alphaarchitect.com

• GUSA 0.10% a year, half the typical fee in its peer group. Cheap beta is Goldman's whole pitch with the MarketBeta line, and the price tag backs it up.gsam.com
• About 1,000 names, roughly twice the reach of a 500-stock benchmark, so mid caps ride along in one ticket instead of being a second purchase.
• Boring by design and good at it: the fund tracks the Solactive GBS United States 1000 Index closely, with at least 80% of assets in index securities per the prospectus.gsam.com
• A billion-dollar-plus fund from a major issuer, paying distributions quarterly. One of the stronger builds among broad US equity peers.

Worth knowing

• AAEQ Trading is thin, so spreads can run wider than at the category's household names. How you place the order matters more here.
• It opened in December 2025, so there is little live history on how closely it tracks or how it handles a real drawdown.
• Cheap, but not the cheapest shelf in the aisle: ILCB covers broad US equity at 0.03%.

• GUSA Thinly traded for its size. Spreads can widen, so your fill price, not the index, does the damage on sloppy market orders.
• Not the cheapest seat in the room: peer ILCB charges 0.03%. GUSA's edge is breadth, not the lowest fee.
• Launched in 2022, with a Solactive benchmark rather than a household index name, so the track record and the apples-to-apples comparisons take extra work.

Full AAEQ profile⁠

Full GUSA profile⁠