VBIL vs YEAR: Grades, Fees and Holdings Compared

Vanguard 0-3 Month Treasury Bill ETF

VBILANasdaq

AB Ultra Short Income ETF

YEARCNYSE Arca

Overlap

No data

Expense ratio

VBIL −0.19pt a year

VBIL0.06%YEAR0.25%

Avg volume · 30D

VBIL 20.7×the volume

VBIL3.08MYEAR149K

VBIL vs YEAR Performance

Nov 7, 2025 – Nov 9, 2026

+3.7%VBIL+3.2%YEAR

Expense ratio: VBIL 0.06%, better; YEAR 0.25%
Fund size: VBIL $12.8B; YEAR $1.59B
1Y total return: VBIL +3.7%, better; YEAR +3.2%
Yield (12M): VBIL 3.50%; YEAR 3.98%, better
Holdings: VBIL 29; YEAR 157
Avg volume (30D): VBIL 3.08M sh, better; YEAR 149K sh
NAV per share: VBIL $75.58; YEAR $50.14
52W range

ETF.net Grade

Pillar letters and Scores for VBIL, YEAR, with each pillar’s weight
Pillar	VBIL	YEAR
Cost30% weight	A95Higher	F18
Mission25% weight	A100	A100
Risk15% weight	C47Higher	C43
Tradability15% weight	A84Higher	B59
Holdings10% weight	C42	C53Higher
Durability5% weight	A78Higher	B63

Rank among Cash & Ultra-Short Income funds

How we build Categories ›

Same Category. VBIL and YEAR are both graded against the same 78 Cash & Ultra-Short Income funds, so their Grades compare head to head.

Cash & Ultra-Short Income⁠

Category · 78 funds

See all 78 ›

VBIL ranks 2nd and YEAR 57th of 78 funds in the Cash & Ultra-Short Income Category.

Rank 1AICSHiShares Ultra Short Duration Bond Active ETFScore 84
Rank 2ACLIPGlobal X 1-3 Month T-Bill ETFScore 81
Rank 2AVBILVanguard 0-3 Month Treasury Bill ETFScore 81
Rank 2AVUSBVanguard Ultra-Short Bond ETFScore 81
Rank 57CUYLDAngel Oak Ultrashort Income ETFScore 54
Rank 57CYEARAB Ultra Short Income ETFScore 54
Rank 61CMMKTTexas Capital Government Money Market ETFScore 53

Our read on each fund

ETF.net Research

VBILAVanguard 0-3 Month Treasury Bill ETF

YEARCAB Ultra Short Income ETF

In short

VBIL Vanguard's cash-parking ETF: roughly two dozen Treasury bills, none maturing more than three months out, at 0.06% a year. It landed in 2025 and undercut most of the T-bill shelf on price.

YEAR The fund that put AllianceBernstein in the ETF business. An active ultra-short bond portfolio that reaches past T-bills into investment-grade corporates and money-market paper, keeps duration under a year, and pays monthly.

Stated mandate

VBIL VBIL seeks to track the performance of a market-weighted Treasury index with an ultra-short-term dollar-weighted average maturity, using a passive approach designed to follow the Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Bills 0-3 Months Index.

YEAR The fund is actively managed and seeks current income with preservation of capital. It primarily invests in high-quality, investment-grade fixed-income and cash-equivalent securities with duration of one year or less, including corporate securities, Treasuries, repurchase agreements, money-market funds and other high-quality money-market instruments.

Why people hold it

VBIL It charges 0.06% a year, well under the 0.14% median for 0-1 year Treasury funds and under the category veteran, BIL.
Plain passive mandate on the Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Bills 0-3 Months Index, tracked very closely. One of the tightest implementations in its peer group.vanguard.com
Roughly two dozen bills backed by the US Treasury, every one maturing inside three months. Interest goes out monthly.
A multi-billion-dollar fund with active daily trading, which tends to keep bid-ask costs small.

YEAR Actively managed, so duration, sector mix and individual bonds can shift inside the under-one-year window rather than following a fixed ladder.alliancebernstein.com
Wider toolkit than government-only cash funds like SBIL and IQMM: investment-grade corporates, Treasuries, repos, CDs, commercial paper and money-market funds.
A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades with reasonable regularity and distributes income monthly, spread across roughly 160 short-dated positions.
One of AllianceBernstein's first two ETFs, launched in 2022, backed by a fixed income desk the firm has run for decades.prnewswire.com

Worth knowing

VBIL The payout floats with short-term rates. Monthly income rises and falls with what bills yield, and nothing about it is fixed.
It opened in 2025, so its live record is short next to T-bill funds that have been running for years.
Stretching maturity gets cheaper: peer XONE targets one-year duration at 0.03%, trading lower cost for more rate sensitivity.

YEAR At 0.25% a year, it prices above the middle of the cash-alternative group, and cheaper options including ICSH and JPST sit in the same aisle.
Corporate credit and money-market paper are not T-bills. Capital preservation is a stated goal, not a floor, and the share price can move.alliancebernstein.com
Duration under one year ties the income stream tightly to short-term rates, so the monthly payout rises and falls with them.

Full VBIL profile⁠

Full YEAR profile⁠

VBIL vs YEAR Holdings

How VBIL and YEAR differ

No overlap figure

Two bond funds rarely hold the same issues.

Level by level

Sector3 Sectors51.4%
Countryby domicile84.2%
Asset classBonds100%

Sector

Sector weights in VBIL and YEAR, widest gap first
Sector	Gap	VBIL	YEAR
Government	VBIL +48.6 points	100.0%	51.4%
Corporate	YEAR +43.8 points	0.0%	43.8%
Securitized	YEAR +4.8 points	0.0%	4.8%

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Country weights in VBIL and YEAR, widest gap first
Country	Gap	VBIL	YEAR
United States	VBIL +15.8 points	100.0%	84.2%
United Kingdom	YEAR +3.9 points	0.0%	3.9%
Canada	YEAR +3.3 points	0.0%	3.3%
France	YEAR +2.9 points	0.0%	2.9%
Japan	YEAR +2.8 points	0.0%	2.8%
Netherlands	YEAR +1.0 points	0.0%	1.0%
Australia	YEAR +1.0 points	0.0%	1.0%
Other countries (2)	YEAR +0.8 points	0.0%	0.8%

Concentration

Weight in the 10 largest Holdings

VBIL52.0%
YEAR53.4%

Securities held

VBIL27
YEAR153

Asset class

VBIL: Bonds
YEAR: Bonds

Holdings

Two bond funds rarely hold the same issues, so this page lists no shared Holdings. VBIL holds 27 securities, YEAR 153.

All 27 VBIL holdings⁠All 154 YEAR holdings⁠

How we measure overlap

Each holding counts at its smaller weight in the two funds, summed over the full Holdings. Sector, country and asset class use the same rule on each fund’s split. Cash, FX and derivative lines stay out of the counts. Two bond funds get no overlap figure.

VBIL vs YEAR Cost

Overpaying YEAR vs VBIL

$3,889

On $10,000 over 30 years. 7% growth a year before fees, expense ratio only.

VBIL 0.06%
$1,270
YEAR 0.25%
$5,159

Amount$10,000

Years30 years

Cost over time

VBIL 0.06%
YEAR 0.25%
Overpaying

Year by year

Year	VBIL	YEAR	Overpaying
10	$110	$455	$345
20	$432	$1,769	$1,337
30	$1,270	$5,159	$3,889

Expense ratio

0.06%VBIL, cheaper
0.25%YEAR

VBIL0.06%YEAR0.25%

0.03%1.00%

Middle half of Cash & Ultra-Short Income funds
Median 0.18%

VBIL 6th cheapest of 78 funds

YEAR 62nd cheapest of 78 funds

VBIL vs YEAR Dividends

Last 12 months to Nov 9, 2026

Yield (12M): VBIL 3.50%; YEAR 3.98%, better
Payout (12M): VBIL $2.65; YEAR $1.99
Last payment: VBIL $0.24; YEAR $0.17
Ex-dividend: VBIL Nov 2, 2026; YEAR Nov 2, 2026
Paid on: VBIL Nov 4, 2026; YEAR Nov 5, 2026
Frequency: VBIL Monthly; YEAR Monthly

Distribution history

Per share, 2023 to 2026, same scale for both

VBILMonthly · 20 paymentsAll VBIL payments⁠

YEARMonthly · 46 paymentsAll YEAR payments⁠

VBIL vs YEAR Risk

Fall from peak · 5 years

This chart needs five years of history for both funds.

Risk facts

VolatilityStd dev, 3 years: VBIL 0.1%since Mar 2025YEAR 0.9%
Return per unit of riskSharpe ratio, 3 years: VBIL −1.04since Mar 2025YEAR 0.21
Worst fallMax drawdown, 5 years: VBIL −0.1%since Feb 2025YEAR −0.6%since Sep 2022
Market sensitivityBeta, 5 years: VBIL −0.01YEAR 0.09; Market = 1

VBIL and YEAR in the news

All news⁠

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VBIL vs YEAR

In short

Stated mandate

Why people hold it