TIPZ vs VTP

TIPZCPIMCO Broad U.S. TIPS Index Exchange-Traded Fund

VTPAVanguard Total Inflation-Protected Securities ETF

In short

TIPZ PIMCO's plain-vanilla take on inflation protection: an index basket of inflation-linked U.S. Treasuries, running since 2009. Narrow mandate, no active tilts, and a price tag that sits above most funds doing the same job.

VTP Vanguard's ETF answer for the whole TIPS curve. It tracks a market-value-weighted index of Treasury inflation-linked bonds with at least a year left to run, charges five basis points, and opened for business in 2025.

Stated mandate

TIPZ The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, an index made up of inflation-protected U.S. Treasury securities.

VTP The Fund passively tracks the full market of U.S. Treasury inflation-protected public obligations through the ICE U.S. Treasury Inflation Linked Bond Index.

Why people hold it

• TIPZ One job, stated plainly: hold inflation-protected U.S. Treasuries and track an index of them. The inflation linkage is the whole product, not a sleeve buried inside a broader bond fund.
• Live since 2009, so it has traded through the zero-rate decade and the inflation spike that followed. A long operating history in a category full of newer entrants.
• Broad-maturity by design: it takes the whole TIPS curve rather than betting on short or long bonds, and it is U.S.-only, so there is no currency or foreign-issuer wrinkle.

• VTP Five basis points: under half the typical fund in its Treasury peer group, and well below the 0.12% charged by broad TIPS rival SPIP.
• Full-curve coverage. The index is market value weighted and takes inflation-protected Treasuries with at least one year to maturity, no upper limit, so no single maturity slice bet.ice.com
• Vanguard's other inflation-linked ETF stops below five years to maturity. This one is the long-end-included sibling, in the same low-cost index wrapper.vanguard.com
• The inflation link sits inside the bonds, not in a strategy overlay: principal and coupons are indexed to consumer prices, and the fund passes income through quarterly.vanguard.com

Worth knowing

• TIPZ Costs 0.20% a year against a 0.12% median for its Treasury cohort. SPIP (0.12%) and VTP (0.05%) charge less for similar inflation-linked exposure.
• A small fund that trades thinly, which usually shows up as wider bid-ask spreads than the category's largest names.
• Distributions arrive on an irregular cadence, because TIPS income rides on inflation adjustments to principal rather than a fixed coupon.

• VTP Owning the long end cuts both ways. Real-rate moves hit a full-maturity TIPS portfolio harder than a sub-five-year one, so expect more price movement.ice.comvanguard.com
• A 2025 launch means a short track record and thinner trading than the long-established TIPS funds, which can show up as wider bid-ask spreads.
• Payouts move with inflation adjustments rather than a fixed rate, and Vanguard discloses that a distribution can include return of capital.vanguard.com

Full TIPZ profile⁠

Full VTP profile⁠