SPEM vs VWO: Which ETF Is Better in 2026?
A metric-by-metric comparison of State Street SPDR Portfolio Emerging Markets ETF (SPEM) and Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund (VWO) — both Emerging Markets funds — using ETFValuer's daily-updated rankings.
Educational content — not financial advice. Data as of July 29, 2026. ~5 minute read.
The Verdict
SPEM and VWO are close to the same fund wearing different labels. Both sit in the Emerging Markets category and their daily returns move almost identically, so this is not really a question of which fund is better — it is a question of which one is cheaper to own and easier to trade in your account. Everything below is about finding the small, structural edges, because the investment exposure is a wash.
On ETFValuer's overall model — which blends return, risk-adjusted performance, cost, drawdown, size and volatility — VWO scores higher: 65.8 (Grade B) versus 63.9 for SPEM. That doesn't make SPEM a bad fund; it means VWO 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
| SPEM | VWO | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Emerging Markets | Emerging Markets |
| Expense ratio | 0.07% | 0.06% |
| Fund size (AUM) | $17.3B | $163.3B |
| Dividend yield | 2.53% | 1.93% |
| 1-year return | +17.23% | +16.54% |
| 3-year return | +54.88% | +52.16% |
| Volatility | 17.53% | 17.41% |
| Max drawdown | -17.62% | -17.37% |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.70 | 0.66 |
| ETFValuer score | 63.9 | 65.8 |
| Grade | C | B |
| Overall rank | #179 | #162 |
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
On cost, the two are essentially tied — SPEM charges 0.07% a year versus VWO's 0.06%. A difference this small (about $1.00 a year on a $10,000 position) isn't a reason to choose one fund over the other. That matters more than usual here: when two funds track the same exposure this closely, fee is normally the whole argument — and with the fees this close, there is no argument left. Liquidity and whichever one trades commission-free in your account become the tiebreaker.
What SPEM's Fees Cost You
SPEM charges an expense ratio of 0.07% 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, SPEM returned +54.88% versus +52.16% for VWO — a gap of about 2.7 percentage points. On risk, VWO has held up better historically, with a shallower max drawdown (-17.37% vs. -17.62%). SPEM currently has the better risk-adjusted return (Sharpe ratio of 0.70 vs. 0.66), 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), SPEM and VWO show a near-perfect correlation of 0.996 — functionally interchangeable. At this level the two funds are, for practical purposes, the same investment. Owning both adds no diversification whatsoever — the decision should come down entirely to cost, spread and which one your broker handles better.
| Measure | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Daily return correlation | 0.996 | Near-perfect — functionally interchangeable |
| R-squared | 99.2% | 99.2% of SPEM's daily moves are explained by VWO's |
| Tracking error (annualised) | 1.45% | Typical yearly spread between the two funds' returns |
| Annualised return over 3.0y | SPEM +14.52% · VWO +13.73% | SPEM ahead by 0.79 points a year |
Correlation alone understates how far these can drift. Across every rolling 12-month window in the period, SPEM finished as much as +1.7 points ahead of VWO at the best extreme and -0.6 points at the worst — a 2.3-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.
Holdings Overlap
SPEM and VWO hold 8 of the same companies among their top 10 positions. Those shared names make up 22.6% of SPEM and 25.2% of VWO. That's heavy duplication — owning both largely doubles down on the same companies rather than spreading risk. Most investors should pick one.
| Shared Holding | SPEM Weight | VWO Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd | 11.96% | 14.61% |
| Tencent Holdings Ltd | 3.48% | 3.26% |
| Alibaba Group Holding Ltd | 2.57% | 2.55% |
| Delta Electronics Inc | 0.93% | 1.17% |
| MediaTek Inc | 0.82% | 1.06% |
| Reliance Industries Ltd | 0.99% | 0.90% |
| China Construction Bank Corp | 0.95% | 0.85% |
| HDFC Bank Ltd | 0.84% | 0.80% |
Compares the top 10 reported holdings from each fund's most recent SEC N-PORT-P filing, so it understates total overlap — funds tracking similar indexes overlap far more deeply than the top 10 alone can show. Search any company across all tracked funds with the Stock Overlap tool.
Which One Should You Pick?
Lean SPEM if…
- Current income matters to you — it yields 2.53% against 1.93%
- You weight recent results heavily — it returned 54.9% over 3 years against 52.2%
Lean VWO if…
- You want the lower running cost — 0.06% vs 0.07%, about $1 a year less on a $10,000 position
- You want the deeper, more liquid market ($163B in assets vs $17B)
Whichever you pick, holding both at full weight is usually the wrong answer — see the overlap and correlation sections above.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is SPEM or VWO better?
On ETFValuer's overall model — which blends return, risk-adjusted performance, cost, drawdown, size and volatility — VWO scores higher: 65.8 (Grade B) versus 63.9 for SPEM. That doesn't make SPEM a bad fund; it means VWO 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, SPEM or VWO?
VWO currently has the lower expense ratio (0.06% vs. 0.07%).
Can I hold both SPEM and VWO?
You can, but there's little point. SPEM and VWO have a daily return correlation of 1.00 over the past 3.0 years, meaning they move almost in lockstep. Holding both roughly doubles a single bet rather than spreading it — pick whichever wins on cost and liquidity and put the money in one place.
Go deeper on either fund
Full daily-updated metrics, holdings context, and category peers.