RSP vs SPY: Which ETF Is Better in 2026?
A metric-by-metric comparison of Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) and State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) — both US Large Cap Blend funds — using ETFValuer's daily-updated rankings.
Educational content — not financial advice. Data as of July 29, 2026. ~5 minute read.
The Verdict
RSP and SPY compete directly — both are US Large Cap Blend funds chasing the same job in a portfolio. That makes this a genuine either/or: the index each tracks, what it costs, and how it has handled drawdowns are what separate them, not the broad exposure they give you.
On ETFValuer's overall model — which blends return, risk-adjusted performance, cost, drawdown, size and volatility — SPY scores higher: 73.4 (Grade B) versus 72.0 for RSP. That doesn't make RSP a bad fund; it means SPY currently edges it out on this specific mix of factors. Read the metric-by-metric breakdown below before deciding which matters more for your own portfolio.
Head-to-Head: Every Metric
| RSP | SPY | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | US Large Cap Blend | US Large Cap Blend |
| Expense ratio | 0.20% | 0.09% |
| Fund size (AUM) | $93.7B | $781.2B |
| Dividend yield | 0.93% | 0.77% |
| 1-year return | +17.88% | +17.57% |
| 3-year return | +49.66% | +70.84% |
| Volatility | 11.76% | 12.68% |
| Max drawdown | -17.81% | -18.76% |
| Sharpe ratio | 1.10 | 0.99 |
| ETFValuer score | 72.0 | 73.4 |
| Grade | B | B |
| Overall rank | #81 | #61 |
Bold marks the better value in each row. "Better" is directional only (e.g. lower cost, higher return) — it isn't a recommendation by itself. See the full methodology.
Cost
SPY is the cheaper fund, charging 0.09% a year versus 0.20% for RSP — a gap of 0.11 percentage points (about $10.55/year on a $10,000 position) that compounds meaningfully over a multi-decade holding period. See the ETF Fee Calculator for the exact dollar impact at your investment size and horizon.
What RSP's Fees Cost You
RSP charges an expense ratio of 0.20% a year, deducted automatically from the fund's value. Small percentages compound into real money — adjust the figures below to see the impact on your own numbers.
Assumes a constant gross return and no additional contributions — a simplification, but it isolates exactly what the expense ratio costs. Try the full fee calculator to model contributions and compare any two funds.
Performance & Risk
Over the trailing 3 years, SPY returned +70.84% versus +49.66% for RSP — a gap of about 21.2 percentage points. On risk, RSP has held up better historically, with a shallower max drawdown (-17.81% vs. -18.76%). RSP currently has the better risk-adjusted return (Sharpe ratio of 1.10 vs. 0.99), meaning it delivered more return per unit of volatility taken on.
How Closely Do They Track Each Other?
Over the last 3.0 years of daily returns (750 shared trading days), RSP and SPY show a strong correlation of 0.865 — clearly related, with room to diverge. There is some genuine differentiation here, but not enough to call these complementary holdings. Pairing them mostly concentrates risk rather than spreading it.
| Measure | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Daily return correlation | 0.865 | Strong — clearly related, with room to diverge |
| R-squared | 74.9% | 74.9% of RSP's daily moves are explained by SPY's |
| Tracking error (annualised) | 7.72% | Typical yearly spread between the two funds' returns |
| Annualised return over 3.0y | RSP +14.02% · SPY +19.07% | SPY ahead by 5.04 points a year |
Correlation alone understates how far these can drift. Across every rolling 12-month window in the period, RSP finished as much as +1.0 points ahead of SPY at the best extreme and -13.8 points at the worst — a 14.8-point spread between the best and worst year of relative performance. Two funds can correlate tightly day to day and still deliver very different outcomes over any single year you happen to hold them.
Calculated from daily total returns over the trailing 3-year window, recomputed every day this site refreshes. Correlation of 1.00 means the two funds moved in lockstep; 0.00 means their daily moves were unrelated.
Which One Should You Pick?
Lean RSP if…
- Current income matters to you — it yields 0.93% against 0.77%
- You care about return per unit of risk — its Sharpe ratio of 1.10 beats 0.99
Lean SPY if…
- You want the lower running cost — 0.09% vs 0.20%, about $11 a year less on a $10,000 position
- You weight recent results heavily — it returned 70.8% over 3 years against 49.7%
- You want the deeper, more liquid market ($781B in assets vs $94B)
Whichever you pick, holding both at full weight is usually the wrong answer — see the overlap and correlation sections above.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is RSP or SPY better?
On ETFValuer's overall model — which blends return, risk-adjusted performance, cost, drawdown, size and volatility — SPY scores higher: 73.4 (Grade B) versus 72.0 for RSP. That doesn't make RSP a bad fund; it means SPY currently edges it out on this specific mix of factors. Read the metric-by-metric breakdown below before deciding which matters more for your own portfolio.
Which has the lower expense ratio, RSP or SPY?
SPY currently has the lower expense ratio (0.09% vs. 0.20%).
Can I hold both RSP and SPY?
You can, though the benefit is limited. At a correlation of 0.87, RSP and SPY fall together far more often than not, so owning both adds complexity and a second expense ratio without much real diversification. Most investors are better served picking one.
Go deeper on either fund
Full daily-updated metrics, holdings context, and category peers.