VOO vs VTI
Both are low-cost Vanguard stock ETFs, but they track different indexes — one focused on large-cap companies, the other spanning the entire U.S. market. Here's how they compare.
VOO
S&P 500 — large-cap U.S. companies
VTI
Total U.S. market — every company size
What each fund tracks
VOO tracks the S&P 500, an index of roughly 500 large U.S. companies. VTI tracks the CRSP US Total Market Index, a much broader benchmark spanning large-, mid-, small-, and micro-cap U.S. companies — thousands of holdings in total, rather than a few hundred. Both are managed by Vanguard and follow the same low-cost, index-tracking philosophy; the difference is entirely in how wide a slice of the market each one covers.
| VOO | VTI | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Vanguard | Vanguard |
| Tracks | S&P 500 Index | CRSP US Total Market Index |
| Company sizes covered | Large-cap only | Large, mid, small, and micro-cap |
| Approximate holdings | ~500 | Thousands |
What's actually different
Because VTI includes smaller companies that VOO leaves out, VTI can behave slightly differently from VOO in periods where small- and mid-cap stocks move differently from large-cap stocks — sometimes better, sometimes worse, since neither pattern holds consistently over time. Large-cap companies still make up the majority of VTI's value, since both funds weight holdings by market capitalization, so the two funds tend to move in the same general direction even when they don't move identically.
Expense ratios for both funds can change over time — check current figures directly on Vanguard's site rather than assuming they're identical.
An illustrative growth example
Since both funds use the same monthly-compounding math, here's $500 invested every month for 20 years at an assumed 7% annual return — a chosen assumption for illustration, not a historical or guaranteed return for either fund specifically, since VOO and VTI can genuinely perform differently over any given period.
That scenario projects to $260,463 from $120,000 in contributions — try your own numbers, for either fund, in the calculator below.
Which one fits your plan
Some investors prefer VOO's simplicity and focus on large, established companies. Others prefer VTI's broader coverage of the entire U.S. market in one fund, including smaller companies with room to grow. Some hold neither alone and combine a U.S. fund with international or bond exposure. There's no universally correct choice — this page is educational, not a recommendation.
Want to project growth for either fund under your own assumptions? Use our VOO calculator or the ETF investment calculator to label your projection for VTI specifically.