Wealthy PotVFIAX vs VTI: A Different Index and a Different Wrapper
VFIAX and VTI differ in two ways at once. VFIAX is the Admiral mutual fund share class of Vanguard's S&P 500 fund, about 505 large companies. VTI is the ETF share class of Vanguard's total-market fund, 3,507 stocks. Both funds filed holdings with the SEC for 30 June 2026, and matching them shows 88.1% of VTI's money in companies VFIAX also holds. VFIAX costs 0.04% and needs $3,000 to open; VTI costs 0.03% and needs one share. Over the ten years to 30 September 2026 VFIAX returned 15.29% a year and VTI 14.70%, a gap that tracks the gap between their indexes. Pick the index you want, then the wrapper that suits your account. The one costly mistake is switching between them later in a taxable account, because they are different funds.
Table of Contents
The Short Answer
- Overlap: 88.1%. In the other direction, 99.6% of VFIAX's money sat in companies VTI also held. Owning both is close to owning one fund twice.
- Fees: VFIAX 0.04%, VTI 0.03%. On $10,000 over ten years the prospectuses show $51 against $39.
- Minimum: $3,000 against one share. VFIAX also carries Vanguard's possible $25 annual account service fee on fund accounts below $5 million; VTI's fee table has no such line.
- Ten-year returns to 30 September 2026: VFIAX 15.29%, VTI 14.70% a year. The S&P 500 beat the total-market index by about the same margin, so the gap is the index, not the fund.
- Tax efficiency is a tie. Over ten years to 31 December 2025 VFIAX lost 0.46 points a year to taxes on distributions and VTI 0.47.
- VTI is a little less concentrated: top ten holdings 33.4% against 37.9% for VFIAX's fund (30 June 2026).
- No tax-free bridge between them. VFIAX converts tax-free only to VOO, its own fund's ETF class. VTSAX converts to VTI.
How Much of VTI Is Already VFIAX
Our Portfolio Overlap Checker matches the two funds' SEC Form N-PORT holdings reports company by company and adds up the smaller weight of every company both hold. Both filings are for the same date, 30 June 2026.
| Overlap measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Overlap (sum of the smaller weight of each shared company) | 88.1% |
| Share of VFIAX's weight in companies VTI also holds | 99.6% |
| Share of VTI's weight in companies VFIAX also holds | 88.1% |
| Companies in common | 499 |
| Companies in VFIAX's filing / VTI's filing | 501 / 3,159 |
| VFIAX companies VTI did not hold | NXP Semiconductors 0.11%, Amcor 0.03% |
The largest positions are the same companies at lower weights in VTI: NVIDIA 7.51% of VFIAX against 6.36% of VTI, Apple 6.59% against 5.87%, Microsoft 4.30% against 3.83%. VTI is the S&P 500 with roughly 12% of its money spread across about 2,700 smaller companies.
One detail people get wrong: VTI is not a strict superset of the S&P 500. NXP Semiconductors and Amcor, both incorporated outside the US, were in VFIAX and not in VTI. Together they were 0.14% of VFIAX. It changes nothing about the choice.
VFIAX vs VTI Side by Side
| VFIAX | VTI | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares | Vanguard Morningstar Total Stock Market ETF |
| Wrapper | Mutual fund share class, priced once a day | ETF share class, trades all day on NYSE Arca |
| Index | S&P 500 | Morningstar US Total Market Index (CRSP US Total Market Index until 29 July 2026) |
| Expense ratio | 0.04% | 0.03% |
| Prospectus cost on $10,000, 10 years | $51 | $39 |
| Minimum | $3,000 to open, $1 to add | None beyond the price of a share, unless your broker sets one |
| Account service fee | Up to $25 a year on fund accounts below $5 million | None in the fee table |
| Stocks held (31 Aug 2026) | 505 | 3,507 |
| Top ten holdings (30 Jun 2026) | 37.9% | 33.4% |
| Median market cap (31 Aug 2026) | $436.0 billion | $348.3 billion |
| 30-day SEC yield (30 Sep 2026) | 0.99% | 1.03% |
| Indexing method | Replication | Sampling |
| Portfolio turnover | 2% | 3% |
| Share class net assets (31 Aug 2026) | $693.0 billion | $690.1 billion |
| Whole fund net assets (31 Aug 2026) | $1.8 trillion | $2.3 trillion |
| Twin in the other wrapper | VOO, 0.03% | VTSAX, 0.04% |
The two share classes are almost exactly the same size, about $690 billion each. The funds behind them are not: VFIAX is one class of a $1.8 trillion fund and VTI one class of a $2.3 trillion fund.
What the Index Difference Has Been Worth
| Annualized, as of 30 September 2026 | 1 year | 3 years | 5 years | 10 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VFIAX | 15.69% | 22.84% | 13.74% | 15.29% |
| S&P 500 | 15.74 | 22.89 | 13.79 | 15.33 |
| VTI, NAV | 15.33% | 22.32% | 12.56% | 14.70% |
| Morningstar US Total Market Index | 15.33 | 22.33 | 12.56 | 14.70 |
| VFIAX minus VTI | +0.36 | +0.52 | +1.18 | +0.59 |
Large companies led over every window shown. The prospectuses, with returns to 31 December 2025, let us check where that lead came from:
| To 31 Dec 2025 | 1 year | 5 years | 10 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| VFIAX, before taxes | 17.83% | 14.38% | 14.78% |
| VTI, before taxes (NAV) | 17.14% | 13.08% | 14.25% |
| Fund minus fund | +0.69 | +1.30 | +0.53 |
| S&P 500 minus CRSP US Total Market Index | +0.73 | +1.34 | +0.57 |
| Tax drag, VFIAX | 0.34 | 0.39 | 0.46 |
| Tax drag, VTI | 0.35 | 0.39 | 0.47 |
The fund gap is the index gap, within 0.04 points. VFIAX did not outperform because of anything Vanguard did differently; the S&P 500 outran the broader market over that decade. Shorter windows can flip it: over the year to 30 June 2026, per the two fact sheets, VTI returned 23.16% at NAV and VOO, VFIAX's ETF twin, 22.28%. A fund that holds the whole market does not need to guess which way it goes next.
For scale: at the ten-year rates to 30 September 2026, a hypothetical $10,000 would have grown to about $41,500 in VFIAX and $39,400 in VTI. That is arithmetic on one past decade, not a forecast.
The Wrapper Difference
Set the index aside and the second difference is mechanical.
- Buying. VFIAX is bought in exact dollar amounts at the end-of-day price, which suits automatic monthly investing. VTI trades like a stock through any broker; whether you can buy a fraction of a share depends on the broker.
- Minimum. VFIAX's Admiral Shares need generally $3,000 to open. VTI has no minimum unless your broker imposes one.
- Portability. VTI can be held at any brokerage. VFIAX is a Vanguard mutual fund; other brokers may carry it on their own terms, so check before you move an account.
- Conversion. Vanguard lets owners of conventional shares convert to the ETF class "of the same fund," and a conversion within one fund is not taxable. That route runs from VFIAX to VOO and from VTSAX to VTI. There is no route from VFIAX to VTI: the prospectus states that "an exchange between classes of shares of different funds is a taxable event." ETF shares cannot be converted back.
If you want VTI's index in a mutual fund, that is VTSAX. If you want VFIAX's index as an ETF, that is VOO. The VFIAX vs VTI pairing mixes both decisions, which is why it is worth separating them.
Which One Fits You
If you invest at Vanguard with automatic dollar contributions and have $3,000, VFIAX is a sound core holding. If you prefer the whole market in that same wrapper, choose VTSAX instead of switching wrappers to get it.
If you are starting with less than $3,000, or your account is at another broker, VTI is the simpler fit. No minimum, and the lower fee.
If your 401(k) offers an S&P 500 fund, hold that there. Its overlap with VTI in an IRA would be the same 88%, so you gain little by pairing them. If you want small and mid caps in addition, an extended-market fund is the tool.
If you already hold VFIAX in a taxable account, stay. Selling to buy VTI realizes the gain, and the potential benefit, a slightly broader index, is not worth a tax bill. Point new money wherever you like, keeping in mind the 88% overlap. Check your 2026 tax bracket before doing anything irreversible.
Do not hold both on purpose. With 88.1% overlap, two positions add bookkeeping, not diversification.
This is educational information, not personalized investment advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results, and the hypothetical figures above are not projections.
Sources & Methodology
Every figure on this page was read from a Vanguard SEC filing or from Vanguard's own published fund data.
- VFIAX summary prospectus, Form 497K dated 28 April 2026: 0.04% fee table, cost example, $25 account service fee, $3,000 minimum, turnover, and returns to 31 December 2025.
- VTI summary prospectus, Form 497K dated 28 April 2026: 0.03% fee table, cost example, purchase terms, turnover, and returns to 31 December 2025.
- Vanguard Index Funds, Form 485BPOS filed 28 April 2026: the conversion rules and the rule that exchanges between different funds are taxable.
- Vanguard Form 497 supplement dated 29 July 2026: VTI's fund and index renames (the 500 Index Fund is not affected).
- Vanguard 500 Index Fund Form N-PORT, period ended 30 June 2026 and Total Stock Market Index Fund Form N-PORT, period ended 30 June 2026: the holdings behind the overlap figures.
- VOO fact sheet and VTI fact sheet, both as of 30 June 2026: top-ten weights.
- Vanguard VFIAX profile and VTI profile: stock counts, net assets and median market cap as of 31 August 2026, SEC yields and quarter-end returns to 30 September 2026.
How the overlap was computed. The Portfolio Overlap Checker groups each fund's Form N-PORT holdings by company and sums the smaller of the two weights for every company both hold. Both filings are for 30 June 2026. The hypothetical growth figures compound each fund's published ten-year annualized return on a single $10,000, with no contributions, costs or taxes.
Limits. Vanguard reports VFIAX's sectors on the GICS system and VTI's on ICB, so we do not compare sector weights. We did not check how brokers other than Vanguard price VFIAX purchases.
This article is for general education and is not investment, tax or legal advice. Fund data changes daily, index returns cannot be invested in directly, and past performance does not guarantee future results. All investing carries the risk of loss. Figures were checked against the sources above on 5 October 2026; confirm current figures with Vanguard and consider speaking with a licensed professional before acting.
FAQ: VFIAX vs VTI
Is VFIAX or VTI better?
They differ in index and wrapper, not quality. VFIAX tracks the S&P 500 as a mutual fund; VTI tracks the whole US market as an ETF. Over ten years to 30 September 2026 VFIAX returned 15.29% a year and VTI 14.70%, a gap that matches the gap between the two indexes. Pick the index you believe in and the wrapper that fits your account.
How much do VFIAX and VTI overlap?
88.1% by weight, matching both funds' SEC holdings filings for 30 June 2026. 99.6% of VFIAX's money was in companies VTI also held.
Can I convert VFIAX to VTI without paying tax?
No. Vanguard lets you convert conventional shares to the ETF class of the same fund, which for VFIAX is VOO. VTI belongs to a different fund, and the prospectus says an exchange between classes of different funds is a taxable event.
Which is cheaper, VFIAX or VTI?
VTI, at 0.03% against 0.04%. On the prospectus example that is $39 against $51 over ten years on $10,000. VFIAX may also carry a $25 annual account service fee on fund accounts below $5 million.
Should I hold both VFIAX and VTI?
No. With 88.1% overlap the second fund mostly repeats the first. If you want more small and mid caps than VTI gives you, add a dedicated extended-market or small-cap fund instead.
Which is better in a Roth IRA?
Either. Taxes on distributions do not apply inside a Roth, and the two funds' measured tax drag was nearly identical anyway (0.46 and 0.47 points a year over ten years). Choose by index and by whether your custodian prefers mutual funds or ETFs.
Why did VTI's name change?
Morningstar acquired the CRSP indexes, and Vanguard renamed ten funds effective 29 July 2026. VTI is now the Vanguard Morningstar Total Stock Market ETF tracking the Morningstar US Total Market Index. The 500 Index Fund was not affected.
Cite This Page
Journalists, educators and bloggers are welcome to cite this comparison. Please link back so readers can reach the underlying filings.
"VFIAX vs VTI: A Different Index and a Different Wrapper." Wealthy Pot, 2026. https://wealthypot.com/vfiax-vs-vti/
Related comparisons: VFIAX vs VOO · VFIAX vs VTSAX · VTI vs VOO · VTSAX vs VTI · IVV vs VTI · FXAIX vs VFIAX · VTIAX vs VTSAX · All ETF comparisons
