AGG vs MAGG

AGGAiShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

MAGGCMadison Aggregate Bond ETF

In short

AGG Launched in 2003, one of the first funds to pack the entire U.S. investment-grade bond market into a single ticker: Treasuries, corporates and mortgage bonds, three basis points a year, cash paid monthly.

MAGG Madison's compact take on the Agg: roughly 200 bonds instead of the benchmark's thousands, paying monthly. A hand-built core bond portfolio at the category's median fee, in a corner of the market where the index giants charge pennies.

Stated mandate

AGG The fund seeks to track the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, providing broad exposure to the total U.S. investment-grade bond market.

MAGG The fund normally invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus investment-purpose borrowings, in bonds.

Why people hold it

• AGG 0.03% a year against a peer-group median near 0.36%. On a bond fund, the fee comes straight out of the coupon, so the gap matters more than it looks.
• A $100 billion-plus fund and very actively traded, the kind of depth that keeps bid-ask costs down for retail-sized orders.
• Tracks the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate closely, with one of the tightest index-following records in its peer group. Income is distributed monthly.
• Running since 2003, giving it one of the longest track records among U.S. bond index ETFs.

• MAGG Holds about 200 bonds against a Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate benchmark that spans thousands: a curated portfolio, not a full index replica.
• The 0.36% fee sits right at the category median and matches Fidelity's FBND, so the managed approach doesn't carry a boutique premium.
• Pays monthly, and the prospectus commits at least 80% of net assets to bonds, keeping it a core fixed income sleeve rather than a wanderer.

Worth knowing

• AGG Investment grade and U.S. dollar only. High-yield debt and foreign bonds sit outside the mandate, so this is designed as core ballast rather than a yield hunt.
• Rate risk comes as it comes. The index gets tracked whether yields rise or fall, with no manager stepping in to shorten duration.
• The same index is sold by SPAB, SCHZ and BBAG at the same 0.03%. The portfolio is the commodity here; scale and trading depth are the tiebreakers.

• MAGG Index funds on the same Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate benchmark (BND, AGG, SPAB) charge 0.03%, roughly a twelfth of this fee.
• Thinly traded with a modest asset base, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than the category anchors', which shows up most on bigger orders.
• Launched in 2023, it has a short live record next to the decades-old funds tracking the same benchmark.

Full AGG profile⁠

Full MAGG profile⁠