ETF comparison

SMLF vs VB

Multi-Factor vs US Small Cap.

iShares U.S. Small-Cap Equity Factor ETF · Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund ETF Shares

Holdings overlap

Weighted by ISIN/CUSIP
48.1 %

680 positions appear in both funds. Buying equal dollars of SMLF and VB would leave roughly 48.1% of each dollar exposed to the same underlying securities.

SMLF only 58.5% Shared 48.1% VB only 51.6%
In SMLF only
210 positions
Shared
680 positions
In VB only
631 positions

Side by side

SMLF

iShares U.S. Small-Cap Equity Factor ETF

iShares · Multi-Factor

86 composite / 100
Expense ratio
0.15%
Net assets
$4.18B
TTM yield
1.01%
Top-10 conc.
15.3%
VB

Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund ETF Shares

Vanguard · US Small Cap

96 composite / 100
Expense ratio
0.030%
Net assets
$188.57B
TTM yield
1.21%
Top-10 conc.
4.7%

Sub-score comparison

85
Cost
97
86
Tax efficiency
88
84
Liquidity
100
92
Concentration
100
Tracking quality
SMLF sub-score VB

Tracking quality isn't part of the composite — see what we don't score for why.

Cost difference

VB is 12 bps cheaper than SMLF. On a $100,000 position that's about $120/yr more in fees for SMLF.

Fee figure is the annual expense charged on $100,000. To see how the gap compounds over a multi-decade holding period, open the cost calculator pre-filled with SMLF vs VB.

Top shared holdings

680 shared in total
# Holding In SMLF In VB Overlap
1 EMCOR Group, Inc. 1.33% 0.46% 0.46%
2 Tapestry, Inc. 0.66% 0.40% 0.40%
3 Jabil, Inc. 0.88% 0.37% 0.37%
4 Natera, Inc. 0.49% 0.37% 0.37%
5 United Therapeutics Corp. 0.51% 0.36% 0.36%
6 Curtiss-Wright Corp. 0.43% 0.35% 0.35%
7 FTAI Aviation Ltd. 0.35% 0.35% 0.35%
8 Expand Energy Corp. 0.35% 0.37% 0.35%
9 Flex Ltd. 0.68% 0.34% 0.34%
10 Casey's General Stores, Inc. 0.32% 0.38% 0.32%
11 Williams-Sonoma, Inc. 0.50% 0.30% 0.30%
12 Royal Gold, Inc. 0.39% 0.30% 0.30%

Only in SMLF

210 total
  • BlackRock Funds III 7.81%
  • BlackRock Funds III 0.95%
  • Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. 0.78%
  • Reddit, Inc. 0.33%
  • Vita Coco Co., Inc. (The) 0.31%
  • XP, Inc. 0.30%
  • SharkNinja, Inc. 0.28%
  • Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior SA 0.27%
  • Liberty Global Ltd. 0.25%
  • Perdoceo Education Corp. 0.24%

Only in VB

631 total
  • NRG Energy Inc 0.43%
  • Atmos Energy Corp 0.43%
  • TechnipFMC PLC 0.39%
  • Ciena Corp 0.38%
  • Lumentum Holdings Inc 0.35%
  • Comfort Systems USA Inc 0.34%
  • Omnicom Group Inc 0.33%
  • Coherent Corp 0.31%
  • Smurfit Westrock PLC 0.29%
  • MasTec Inc 0.28%

Open SMLF or VB at a brokerage

Both funds trade commission-free at major US brokerages.

Affiliate links — opening an account through these earns PlainIndex a one-time referral. Scoring is computed before any affiliate consideration; see our methodology and funding disclosure.

Holdings overlap is the sum of min(weight_a, weight_b) over positions matched on ISIN (CUSIP fallback). Methodology: see /methodology/.

Comparing two funds doesn't endorse swapping one for the other. Tax-lot history, account type, and personal goals matter — PlainIndex publishes data and methodology, not investment advice.