# VOO vs VUG

Vanguard S&P 500 ETF against Vanguard Growth ETF.

Canonical page: https://tickerinside.com/compare/voo-vs-vug/
Prices through 2026-09-04. VOO holdings as published 2026-07-31, VUG 2026-07-31.
Licence: CC BY 4.0, attribution to TickerInside.

## The short answer

VUG is the growth half of the large-cap market, and 97.7% of it sits inside VOO. Which fund returned more depends on the window: VUG over three years, 88.6% against 79.9%, VOO over five, 85.6% against 79.0%.

## Key figures

| Measure | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Holdings overlap by weight | 57.1% |
| Companies held by both | 121 |
| Share of VOO held in common | 57.4% |
| Share of VUG held in common | 97.7% |
| Correlation of weekly returns, 3 years | 0.96 |
| Cost per year | VOO 0.03%, VUG 0.03% |
| Return, 3 years | VOO 79.9%, VUG 88.6% |
| Worst fall, 3 years | VOO -16.7%, VUG -21.8% |
| Volatility, annualised | VOO 14.3%, VUG 19.4% |
| Positions | VOO 503, VUG 146 |

## Analysis

### Half of VOO, at growth weight

VUG holds 146 companies and VOO 503, and 121 of them are in both. Almost nothing in VUG is missing from VOO, 2.3%** of its weight in 25 companies such as Snowflake and Cloudflare. Seen from VOO, 57.4% of the index is in VUG's list and 42.6% is not: JPMorgan, Berkshire Hathaway, Exxon, Johnson & Johnson and Walmart are the largest of the 382 companies the growth screen leaves out.

### Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft, counted twice over

The shared companies are not held at the same size. Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft each weigh markedly more in VUG than in VOO, and the ten largest positions take 63.8% of VUG against 37.7% of VOO. That is what the overlap of 57.1% by weight measures: the same names, at index weight on one side and at growth weight on the other.

### The window decides the winner

Over three years VUG returned 88.6%** and VOO 79.9%. Over five years the order flips, 85.6% for VOO against 79.0% for VUG, and over the past year VOO led again at 20.4% against 15.2%. The concentration shows in the risk figures: VUG's volatility of 19.4% against 14.3%, and a worst fall of -21.8% against -16.7%.

### Same fee, different portfolio

Both cost 0.03% a year, and VOO yields 1.04% against 0.38% for VUG. Weekly returns correlated at 0.96 over three years. A portfolio holding both is VOO with its growth half counted twice; a portfolio holding VUG alone has given up the 382 companies that make up 42.6% of the index.

## Largest positions held by both

| Ticker | Company | In VOO | In VUG | Counted as overlap |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| NVDA | NVIDIA Corp. | 7.56% | 12.84% | 7.56% |
| AAPL | Apple Inc. | 7.05% | 12.63% | 7.05% |
| MSFT | Microsoft Corp. | 5.37% | 9.61% | 5.37% |
| AMZN | Amazon.com Inc. | 4.13% | 5.16% | 4.13% |
| GOOGL | Alphabet Inc. Class A | 3.25% | 5.81% | 3.25% |
| AVGO | Broadcom Inc. | 2.87% | 4.47% | 2.87% |
| GOOG | Alphabet Inc. Class C | 2.62% | 4.64% | 2.62% |
| META | Facebook Inc. Class A | 1.9% | 3.41% | 1.9% |
| LLY | Eli Lilly & Co. | 1.41% | 2.72% | 1.41% |
| TSLA | Tesla Inc. | 1.36% | 2.45% | 1.36% |
| AMD | Advanced Micro Devices Inc. | 1.21% | 2.17% | 1.21% |
| V | Visa Inc. Class A | 0.93% | 1.66% | 0.93% |
| MA | Mastercard Inc. Class A | 0.72% | 1.28% | 0.72% |
| COST | Costco Wholesale Corp. | 0.66% | 1.19% | 0.66% |
| AMAT | Applied Materials Inc. | 0.63% | 1.14% | 0.63% |

## Covariance and correlation

Covariance is annualised and expressed in percent squared, so the diagonal is each fund's variance. Dividing the off-diagonal by the two volatilities returns the correlation.

| | VOO | VUG |
| --- | --- | --- |
| VOO | 204 | 265.7 |
| VUG | 265.7 | 376 |

Correlation over 1, 3 and 5 years: 0.95, 0.96, 0.96.

## Method

How every figure is produced: https://tickerinside.com/how-the-numbers-are-produced/
Machine readable version of this comparison: https://tickerinside.com/api/v1/compare/voo-vs-vug.json