ITOT vs VTI

ITOTAiShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF

VTIAVanguard Morningstar Total Stock Market ETF

In short

ITOT The S&P family's answer to total-market indexing: large, mid and small U.S. stocks in one 0.03% wrapper, running since 2004. Same fee as the Vanguard and Schwab giants, a different index rulebook.

VTI The whole US stock market in one ticker: roughly 3,600 names, from mega caps down to micro caps, for three basis points. Vanguard has run this portfolio in ETF form since 2001, and it's grown into one of the largest funds anywhere.

Stated mandate

ITOT The fund seeks to track the performance of the S&P Composite 1500, representing U.S. stocks across market capitalizations.

VTI The fund aims to replicate the performance of a benchmark index that covers the entire U.S. stock market.

Why people hold it

• ITOT 0.03% a year, matching the category's biggest names (VTI, SCHB) and sitting below what the typical fund in this group charges.
• One index, no tilts: U.S. stocks across market caps in cap-weight order. The mandate it prints is the mandate it runs.
• Trading since 2004 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund with active daily volume, so spreads are rarely the story.
• Plain 1940 Act fund structure, cash paid out quarterly.

• VTI Costs 0.03% a year, half the 0.06% typical for its total-market peers.
• About 3,600 holdings, so the small and micro caps an S&P 500 fund leaves out are already in the mix.investor.vanguard.com
• Tracks its total-market benchmark very closely and trades heavily, and it sits among the strongest implementations in its peer group.
• The ETF is a share class of Vanguard's Total Stock Market Index Fund, sharing one portfolio with the mutual fund rather than running a separate copy.sec.gov

Worth knowing

• ITOT Cap weighting puts the megacaps in the driver's seat; the long tail of smaller names is a thin slice of the basket.
• SPTM tracks the same declared index at the same 0.03% fee, so the pick comes down to platform, spreads and existing tax lots.
• All-equity and all-U.S. by design: no bonds, no foreign stocks in the wrapper.

• VTI Market-cap weighted, so the biggest US companies drive the result and the thousands of small names at the bottom carry little weight.personal.vanguard.com
• All US, by design. Nothing outside the country comes with it.
• ITOT and SCHB match the 0.03% fee and BBUS runs 0.02%, so rivals deliver similar whole-market exposure for the same or less.

Full ITOT profile⁠

Full VTI profile⁠