FXAIX, VOO, VTSAX and VTI all returned about 14% last year, and the fee gap is $2.50 on $10,000

What is FXAIX?

FXAIX is the Fidelity 500 Index Fund, a mutual fund that tracks the S&P 500 for a 0.015% expense ratio and no minimum investment. It holds the roughly 500 large US companies in the index at their index weights, and it is run for Fidelity by Geode Capital Management.

Fund figures are from Fidelity's FXAIX page. The holdings count is above 500 because a few companies, Alphabet among them, have two share classes in the index.

The FXAIX stock price is its NAV, the net asset value per share. A mutual fund does not trade during the day like a stock. It is priced once, after the market closes at 4 p.m. New York time, and every buy and sell order placed that day gets that price. Quote sites often list it as MUTF: FXAIX. On October 26, 2026, the NAV was $266.84, up 12.2% for the year so far and 13.1% over the past year, before dividends.

FXAIX vs VOO

FXAIX and VOO track the same index, the S&P 500, so they hold the same stocks and their returns match to within hundredths of a point. Over the past year, FXAIX returned 14.33% and VOO 14.29% with dividends reinvested. FXAIX costs less, 0.015% against 0.03%. The difference that matters more for most people is that FXAIX is a Fidelity mutual fund and VOO is an ETF that trades on an exchange.

Returns are from Yahoo Finance's dividend-adjusted closes to October 26, 2026. In the 2022 sell-off, both fell 25.4% from their highest close on January 3 to their lowest on October 12.

For a long-term holder, the fee gap is $1.50 a year on every $10,000, so the choice comes down to where your account is. FXAIX is built for Fidelity accounts: no minimum, and you can buy in exact dollar amounts, which suits a fixed monthly contribution or dollar-cost averaging. VOO trades at any broker that offers ETFs, and you can move it between brokers without selling.

VOO's sibling SPY tracks the same index for 0.09%, and the Nasdaq-100 funds are a different bet. Both are compared in VOO vs QQQ, from our QQQM guide.

FXAIX expense ratio

FXAIX's expense ratio is 0.015%, both gross and net, as of April 29, 2026, per Fidelity. That is $0.15 a year for every $1,000 invested, or $1.50 on $10,000. It carries no 12b-1 fee and no purchase or redemption fee. You are never billed: the fund takes its fee out of its assets a little each day, and the NAV you see is already net of it.

At these levels the fee is a rounding error next to what the market does in a year, though over decades the gap compounds like any other cost.

FXAIX dividend

FXAIX paid $2.80 a share over the past 12 months, about 1.05% of its October 26, 2026 NAV. It pays four times a year, in April, July, October and December, per Fidelity. You can take it as cash or reinvest it in more shares. In a taxable account the dividend is taxed in the year it is paid, reinvested or not.

The next payment on Fidelity's schedule falls in December. The dividend is the S&P 500 companies' own dividends passed through, less the fee, so its size moves with what those companies pay.

FXAIX has not paid a capital gains distribution since April 2019, per Fidelity's distribution history. Capital gains distributions are the payouts an index fund can make when it sells stocks at a profit, and in a taxable account they are taxed even if you never sold a share. More on that in mutual fund vs ETF.

What is VTSAX?

VTSAX is the Admiral Shares class of Vanguard's total stock market index fund, a mutual fund that holds about 3,500 US stocks for a 0.04% expense ratio and a $3,000 minimum. Vanguard now calls it the Vanguard Morningstar Total Stock Market Index Fund. It tracks the Morningstar US Total Market Index, which Vanguard describes as about 100% of the investable US stock market: large, mid, small and micro-cap companies on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.

Figures are from Vanguard's VTSAX page, with assets and holdings as of September 30, 2026.

The VTSAX stock price works like FXAIX's: one NAV a day, after the close. It was $182.82 on October 26, 2026, up 12.0% for the year so far and 12.5% over the past year, before dividends.

The total market is still dominated by the same large companies as the S&P 500. Vanguard puts the fund's median holding at $370.4 billion in market value, against $462.2 billion for VOO. The extra 3,000 or so companies are real, but small next to Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft, which is why the two indexes move so closely. The megacaps do most of the steering in both.

VTSAX vs VTI

VTSAX and VTI are two share classes of the same Vanguard fund: same portfolio, same index, same 3,519 stocks. VTI is the ETF class, at 0.03% with no minimum beyond a share or $1 at Vanguard. VTSAX is the mutual fund class, at 0.04% with a $3,000 minimum. Their returns matched to within about a tenth of a point over every period we checked.

Moving from VTSAX to VTI is one-way. Vanguard lets you convert mutual fund shares into ETF shares of the same fund, and says the conversion is tax-free when both are held at Vanguard, with no fee in a Vanguard brokerage account. You can't convert ETF shares back to mutual fund shares.

For a long-term holder, it is the same fund at a $1-a-year difference on $10,000. VTSAX lets you invest exact dollar amounts and set up automatic purchases at Vanguard once you are past the $3,000 minimum. VTI is cheaper, works at any broker, and needs only the price of a share, or less where fractional shares are offered.

VTSAX dividend

VTSAX paid $1.90 a share over the past 12 months, about 1.04% of its October 26, 2026 NAV. It pays quarterly, at the end of March, June, September and December. VTI pays on the same schedule, $3.95 a share over the same 12 months, because its share price is about twice VTSAX's.

For VTI the reinvest date is the ex-dividend date. Vanguard's 30-day SEC yields, as of September 30, 2026, were 1.02% for VTSAX and 1.03% for VTI, against 1.00% for VOO. The dividend yields of all four funds sit within a few hundredths of a point of each other, so none of them is an income fund. For funds built around monthly payouts, and what that income costs, see JEPI vs JEPQ.

FXAIX vs VTSAX: the S&P 500 or the whole market

FXAIX owns the S&P 500's roughly 500 large companies. VTSAX owns those plus about 3,000 mid-sized and small ones. Over the past year the two returned within half a point of each other. Over five years the S&P 500 funds came out about nine points ahead: the mid-sized and small companies the total market adds did worse than the large ones over that stretch.

The 2022 drop runs from the highest close on January 3 to the lowest on October 12, 2022, for all four. The one-year window starts at the October 24, 2025 close and the five-year window at October 26, 2021.

For a long-term holder, the S&P 500 is about 500 companies and the total market about 3,500, but because both indexes weight by market value, they overlap heavily. Choosing between them is a choice about how much small and mid-sized companies you want on top of the large ones. The total market fund holds them automatically. The S&P 500 fund leaves them out.

Five years is one stretch, and the gap can run either way over the next one. Over a long horizon, holding one of these funds through both kinds of stretch does more for your return than guessing which index leads next year.

Mutual fund vs ETF: minimums, pricing and taxes

A mutual fund trades once a day at its NAV and lets you invest exact dollar amounts. An ETF trades all day on an exchange like a stock and can sit at almost any broker. For index funds this cheap, the choice is mostly about your broker and your account type.

Minimums. FXAIX has none. VTSAX needs $3,000 to start. VOO and VTI cost one share at most brokers, $703.41 and $375.59 at the October 26 close, and Vanguard sells them from $1 with fractional shares.

Trading once a day. A mutual fund order placed at 10 a.m. or 3 p.m. gets the same price, the NAV struck after the close. You can't react to a move during the day, and as a long-term holder you give up little by that.

Taxes. In an IRA, a 401(k) or another tax-advantaged account, the difference doesn't apply: nothing inside is taxed until you withdraw, and qualified Roth withdrawals are not taxed at all. In a taxable account, ETFs have the edge in general, because their structure lets them pass stocks in and out without selling and so they usually make few or no capital gains distributions. Neither mutual fund here has paid one recently. FXAIX's last capital gains distribution was in April 2019, and Vanguard's distribution tables for VTSAX and VOO list only dividends for the past year and more. VTSAX shares one portfolio with VTI, and VOO is a share class of the Vanguard 500 Index Fund, which Vanguard also offers as a mutual fund.

Which broker. Each mutual fund is easiest to hold at its own issuer: FXAIX at Fidelity, VTSAX at Vanguard. Elsewhere, a broker may not offer the fund or may charge a fee to buy it, so check your broker's fee schedule. The ETFs trade at any broker that offers US ETFs. If you are opening your first account, start with how to invest in stocks, which covers account types and placing an order.

What the accounts we track say about the S&P 500's top holdings

Owning FXAIX or VOO means owning these companies at these weights. VTSAX and VTI hold the same companies at slightly lower weights, because they also own the rest of the market. These are the S&P 500's ten largest lines on September 30, 2026, per Fidelity's FXAIX holdings, with Alphabet's two share classes together. Mentions cover the 30 days from September 27 to October 26, 2026, across the accounts we track. The last column is the share of those mentions that came from accounts with a strong graded track record.

These nine companies are 39.03% of the fund and drew 4,392 mentions. The accounts we track spread their attention far from the weights. Micron is 1.82% of FXAIX and took 24% of those mentions, more than any other holding. Micron and Tesla together are 3.34% of the fund and drew 39%. Apple and Microsoft, 13.14% of the fund between them, drew 10%.

Micron also had the largest share of its mentions coming from accounts with a strong record, 27%, against 24% across every stock the accounts we track discussed in the same 30 days. Tesla had the smallest, 14%, and it was the only holding in the table where bearish mentions outnumbered bullish ones, 51% to 38%.

What this tells an index holder

You own these companies at their index weights, whatever the feed says. Apple and Microsoft are about 13% of an S&P 500 fund whether or not anyone is discussing them, and a month of Micron chatter doesn't move it past 1.82%. The weights follow market values on their own, so you don't need to act on any of it.

Most of the chatter comes from accounts without a record behind it. Even for Micron, the holding with the highest share from strong-record accounts, about three in four mentions came from the rest, and the fund holds it at its market weight either way. Micron's run this year, and how the accounts with a graded record called it before the crowd arrived, is in our Micron signal autopsy.

Common questions

What is FXAIX?

FXAIX is the Fidelity 500 Index Fund, a mutual fund that tracks the S&P 500. It charges 0.015% a year, has no minimum investment, and held $857.59 billion on September 30, 2026.

Is FXAIX the same as VOO?

They track the same index and hold the same stocks, so their returns are nearly identical: 14.33% and 14.29% over the year to October 26, 2026, with dividends reinvested. FXAIX is a Fidelity mutual fund at 0.015%. VOO is a Vanguard ETF at 0.03%.

What is the FXAIX expense ratio?

0.015% a year, gross and net, as of April 29, 2026, per Fidelity. That is $1.50 a year on $10,000.

Does FXAIX pay a dividend?

Yes, four times a year, in April, July, October and December. It paid $2.80 a share over the past 12 months, about 1.05% of its October 26, 2026 NAV. The latest was $0.713 on October 2, 2026.

What is VTSAX?

VTSAX is the Admiral Shares class of Vanguard's total stock market index fund. It holds about 3,500 US stocks of every size, charges 0.04% a year, and needs $3,000 to start.

VTSAX vs VTI: what is the difference?

They are two share classes of the same Vanguard fund with the same holdings. VTSAX is a mutual fund at 0.04% with a $3,000 minimum. VTI is an ETF at 0.03% that trades all day. Their returns matched to within about a tenth of a point over the past one and five years.

What is VTSAX's dividend?

VTSAX paid $1.90 a share over the past 12 months, about 1.04% of its October 26, 2026 NAV. It pays quarterly. The latest was $0.4605, reinvested on September 28, 2026.

FXAIX or VTSAX: which is better?

We don't give buy or sell advice. FXAIX holds the S&P 500's large companies; VTSAX adds mid-sized and small ones. The two returned within half a point of each other over the past year, and the S&P 500 funds were about nine points ahead over five years. FXAIX has no minimum; VTSAX needs $3,000.

Can I buy FXAIX outside Fidelity?

FXAIX is built for Fidelity accounts. At another broker, check whether the fund is offered and what it costs to buy. VOO, an ETF on the same index, trades at any broker that offers ETFs.

Try it

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Fund facts, holdings and distributions are from Fidelity's FXAIX pages and Vanguard's VOO, VTSAX and VTI pages, checked on October 27, 2026. Prices and total returns are from the Yahoo chart API through the October 26 close. Mentions cover September 27 to October 26, 2026, New York time.

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