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XLK vs XSW

State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF

XLKANYSE Arca

State Street SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF

XSWBNYSE Arca

Overlap

11.7%by weight

Expense ratio

XLK −0.27pt a year

XLK0.08%XSW0.35%

Avg volume · 30D

XLK 151.5×the volume

XLK8.28MXSW54.7K

10Y return · a year

XLK +8.8pt

XLK+23.7%XSW+14.9%

XLK vs XSW Performance

Oct 29, 2021 – Oct 30, 2026

+130.6%XLK+16.2%XSW

Oct 29, 2021 to Oct 30, 2026. XLK +130.6%. XSW +16.2%. Use the arrow keys to read each point.−50%50%100%Oct 2021Apr 2024Oct 2026
Expense ratio
XLK 0.08%, better
XSW 0.35%
Fund size
XLK $125B
XSW $536M
1Y total return
XLK +20.0%, better
XSW +5.6%
Yield (12M)
XLK 0.47%, better
XSW 0.00%
Holdings
XLK 78
XSW 131
Avg volume (30D)
XLK 8.28M sh, better
XSW 54.7K sh
NAV per share
XLK $188.72
XSW $212.78
52W range

ETF.net Grade

XLK: Cost 98, Risk 61, Mission 76, Tradability 98, Holdings 41, Durability 82. XSW: Cost 77, Risk 21, Mission 60, Tradability 45, Holdings 91, Durability 66.
Pillar letters and Scores for XLK, XSW, with each pillar’s weight
PillarXLKXSW
Cost30% weightA98HigherA77
Mission25% weightA76HigherB60
Risk15% weightB61HigherF21
Tradability15% weightA98HigherC45
Holdings10% weightC41A91Higher
Durability5% weightA82HigherB66

Rank among Technology (Broad) funds

How we build Categories ›
Same Category. Both funds are graded against the same funds, so their Grades compare head to head.

Same Category. XLK and XSW are both graded against the same 23 Technology (Broad) funds, so their Grades compare head to head.

Technology (Broad)⁠

Category · 23 funds
See all 23 ›

XLK ranks 1st and XSW 9th of 23 funds in the Technology (Broad) Category.

  1. Rank 1AXLKState Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETFScore 82
  2. Rank 2AFTECFidelity MSCI Information Technology Index ETFScore 78
  3. Rank 8BPSCTInvesco S&P SmallCap Information Technology ETFScore 61
  4. Rank 9BXSWState Street SPDR S&P Software & Services ETFScore 60
  5. Rank 10BTDIVFirst Trust NASDAQ Technology Dividend Index FundScore 59

Our read on each fund

ETF.net Research

XLKAState Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF

XSWBState Street SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF

In short

XLK A 1998 original: XLK owns the technology slice of the S&P 500, about 70 names, for eight basis points. Big, heavily traded, and top-heavy by design, with quarterly caps the only brake on the giants at the top.

XSW Most tech funds are really a bet on a handful of megacaps. XSW carves out software and services and weights roughly 130 names close to equally, so a small SaaS shop sits near the giants. Running that way since 2011.

Stated mandate

XLK The fund seeks to track the price and yield performance of the Technology Select Sector Index before expenses.

XSW The fund seeks to track the total return of the S&P Software & Services Select Industry Index before fees and expenses. Its mandate covers software and services companies across application software, interactive home entertainment, IT consulting and other services, and systems software.

Why people hold it

  • XLK Costs 0.08% a year against a roughly 0.40% median for broad tech funds, tying FTEC as the cheapest of the category's top-rated names and undercutting VGT's 0.09%.
  • One of the largest and most actively traded funds in the tech aisle, so entering or exiting rarely means fighting the order book.
  • Running since December 1998 and dead simple: the tech sector of the S&P 500, spanning software, semiconductors, hardware, communications equipment and IT services. Pays quarterly.ssga.com
  • XSW Modified equal weighting resets constituents toward the same size each quarter, so results lean on software broadly rather than on three or four dominant names.ssga.comspglobal.com
  • A 0.35% expense ratio, below the median for its broad tech peer group, for a strategy that reweights four times a year rather than just riding market cap.spglobal.com
  • Roughly 130 holdings across application software, interactive home entertainment, IT consulting and systems software. One stumble is a small slice, not the whole fund.ssga.com
  • Live since 2011, one of the longest-running equal-weight takes on US software, and it has tracked its index closely across that history.ssga.com

Worth knowing

  • XLK Top-heavy by construction. About 70 stocks, and the index only trims its biggest weights at quarterly rebalances to stay inside fund diversification limits.spglobal.com
  • The universe is S&P 500 tech only. Smaller tech companies outside the big index are out, and the Select Sector funds split the S&P 500 up, so some familiar names sit in other sector funds.ssga.com
  • It is one sector with no ballast from the rest of the market, so a tech drawdown lands here in full.
  • XSW Equal weighting pulls in small and mid-cap software, the jumpiest corner of tech. The ride here tends to be bumpier than a megacap-led sector fund.ssga.com
  • Cap-weighted rivals cost far less: XLK and FTEC at 0.08%, VGT at 0.09%. The extra fee buys the equal-weight method, not wider coverage.
  • Software companies rarely pay dividends and the fund has not made distributions lately, so price change does essentially all the work. It also trades in moderate volume.

Full XLK profile⁠

Full XSW profile⁠

XLK vs XSW Holdings

How XLK and XSW differ

Overlap by weight

11.7%

Shared holdings make up 27.9% of XLK and 20.0% of XSW.

Level by level

  • Holdings26 in both11.7%
  • Sector7 Sectors90.6%
  • Countryby domicile99.4%
  • Asset classEquity100%

Sector

Sector weights in XLK and XSW, widest gap first
SectorMore in XLKMore in XSW
TechnologyXLK +9.3 points
FinancialsXSW +5.8 points
CommunicationXSW +1.5 points
Health CareXSW +0.8 points
IndustrialsXSW +0.7 points
Consumer DiscretionaryXSW +0.7 points
EnergyXLK +0.1 points

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Country weights in XLK and XSW, widest gap first
CountryMore in XLKMore in XSW
United StatesXSW +0.6 points
Other countries (2)XLK +0.6 points

Concentration

Weight in the 10 largest Holdings

  • XLK64.6%
  • XSW11.0%

Securities held

  • XLK76
  • XSW130

Asset class

XLK
Equity
XSW
Equity

Holdings

  • Only in XLK50
  • In both26
  • Only in XSW104

Only in XLK

50 securities, 72.1% of XLK by weight

  • NVIDIA Corp14.98%
  • Apple Inc14.76%
  • Advanced Micro Devices4.85%

Only in XSW

104 securities, 80.0% of XSW by weight

  • Braze Inc A1.36%
  • Netskope Inc Class A1.27%
  • RAPID7 Inc1.14%

Weight gaps

All 26 Holdings in both funds, largest gap first.

Holding weights in XLK and XSW, widest gap first
HoldingMore in XLKMore in XSW
Microsoft CorpMSFTXLK +10.65 points
Palantir Technologies Inc APLTRXLK +1.84 points
Palo Alto Networks IncPANWXLK +1.02 points
Ptc IncPTCXSW +0.94 points
Gartner IncITXSW +0.85 points
Oracle CorpORCLXLK +0.81 points
Trimble IncTRMBXSW +0.71 points
Tyler Technologies IncTYLXSW +0.69 points

All 75 XLK holdings⁠All 130 XSW 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.

XLK vs XSW Cost

Overpaying XSW vs XLK

$5,437

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

  • XLK 0.08%

    $1,689

  • XSW 0.35%

    $7,126

$10,000
30 years

Cost over time

  • XLK 0.08%
  • XSW 0.35%
  • Overpaying
One line per fund, from year 0 to year 30. Use the arrow keys to read each point.$0$2K$4K$6K$8K051015202530XSW $7,126XLK $1,689

Year by year

YearXLKXSWOverpaying
10$147$634$487
20$575$2,454$1,879
30$1,689$7,126$5,437

Expense ratio

  • 0.08%XLK, cheaper
  • 0.35%XSW
  • Middle half of Technology (Broad) funds
  • Median 0.45%

XLK cheapest of 23 funds

XSW 5th cheapest of 23 funds

XLK vs XSW Dividends

Last 12 months to Oct 30, 2026
Yield (12M)
XLK 0.47%, better
XSW 0.00%
Payout (12M)
XLK $0.83
XSW None
Last payment
XLK $0.22
XSW No data
Ex-dividend
XLK Sep 21, 2026
XSW No data
Paid on
XLK Sep 23, 2026
XSW No data
Frequency
XLK Quarterly
XSW No data

Distribution history

Per share, 2017 to 2026, same scale for both

XLKQuarterly · 39 paymentsAll XLK payments⁠
One bar per payment. 39 payments from 2017 to 2026 YTD. Mar 17, 2017 $0.10; Jun 16, 2017 $0.11; Sep 15, 2017 $0.10; Dec 15, 2017 $0.12; Mar 16, 2018 $0.11; Jun 15, 2018 $0.13; Sep 21, 2018 $0.13; Dec 21, 2018 $0.13; Mar 15, 2019 $0.12; Jun 21, 2019 $0.14; Sep 20, 2019 $0.13; Dec 20, 2019 $0.15; Mar 23, 2020 $0.19; Jun 22, 2020 $0.14; Sep 21, 2020 $0.12; Dec 21, 2020 $0.15; Mar 22, 2021 $0.14; Jun 21, 2021 $0.13; Sep 20, 2021 $0.14; Dec 20, 2021 $0.16; Mar 21, 2022 $0.14; Jun 21, 2022 $0.16; Sep 19, 2022 $0.16; Dec 19, 2022 $0.18; Mar 20, 2023 $0.16; Jun 20, 2023 $0.18; Sep 18, 2023 $0.18; Dec 18, 2023 $0.21; Mar 18, 2024 $0.17; Jun 24, 2024 $0.20; Sep 23, 2024 $0.20; Dec 23, 2024 $0.19; Mar 24, 2025 $0.19; Jun 23, 2025 $0.20; Sep 22, 2025 $0.18; Dec 22, 2025 $0.22; Mar 23, 2026 $0.17; Jun 22, 2026 $0.23; Sep 21, 2026 $0.22. Use the arrow keys to read each point.$0$0.252017202020232026YTD
XSW29 paymentsAll XSW payments⁠
One bar per payment. 29 payments from 2017 to 2026 YTD. Mar 17, 2017 $0.03; Jun 16, 2017 $0.04; Sep 15, 2017 $0.03; Dec 15, 2017 $0.22; Mar 19, 2018 $0.02; Jun 18, 2018 $0.04; Sep 24, 2018 $0.04; Dec 24, 2018 $0.13; Mar 18, 2019 $0.03; Jun 24, 2019 $0.03; Sep 23, 2019 $0.02; Dec 23, 2019 $0.04; Mar 23, 2020 $0.32; Jun 22, 2020 $0.02; Sep 21, 2020 $0.001; Dec 21, 2020 $0.05; Sep 20, 2021 $0.15; Dec 20, 2021 $0.06; Mar 21, 2022 $0.0036; Jun 21, 2022 $0.0031; Sep 19, 2022 $0.02; Dec 19, 2022 $0.07; Mar 20, 2023 $0.07; Jun 20, 2023 $0.10; Sep 18, 2023 $0.10; Dec 18, 2023 $0.04; Jun 24, 2024 $0.14; Mar 24, 2025 $0.05; Jun 23, 2025 $0.07. Use the arrow keys to read each point.$0$0.252017202020232026YTD

XLK vs XSW Risk

Fall from peak · 5 years

  • XLK
  • XSW
Oct 29, 2021 to Oct 30, 2026. Worst fall: XSW −45.4% · Nov 2022. Use the arrow keys to read each point.−40%−30%−20%−10%0%Oct 2021Apr 2024Oct 2026

Risk facts

VolatilityStd dev, 3 years
XLK 23.6%, betterXSW 25.9%
Return per unit of riskSharpe ratio, 3 years
XLK 1.07, betterXSW 0.68
Worst fallMax drawdown, 5 years
XLK −33.6%, betterXSW −45.4%
Market sensitivityBeta, 5 years
XLK 1.35XSW 1.37

XLK and XSW in the news

All news⁠

Popular comparisons

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    State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF · Fidelity MSCI Information Technology Index ETF

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