Guides
Category-by-category walkthroughs of the funds passive investors actually pick from. The leaderboard inside each guide is the live PlainIndex composite; the editorial commentary is hand-written and reflects how the funds differ in practice — not in fee terms alone.
23 guides across 5 sections.
US equity
Best total US stock-market ETFs
Total-market funds covering the entire investable US equity universe — every cap, every sector, weighted by market value. The plain-vanilla core of a 3-fund portfolio.
Published May 17, 2026
Best S&P 500 ETFs
The three near-identical S&P 500 index funds passive investors actually use. Differences come down to fee, fund size, and which brokerage you sit at.
Published May 17, 2026
Best small-cap ETFs
Funds holding US small-cap stocks ($300M–$2B market cap range, depending on index). Used as a deliberate "size factor" tilt over a total-market core.
Published May 18, 2026
Best large-cap growth ETFs
Funds holding US large-cap stocks selected for growth characteristics — high revenue and earnings growth, often lower current dividend yield. Includes the most-traded ETF on US exchanges (QQQ).
Published May 18, 2026
International equity
Best total international stock ETFs
Single-fund total ex-US exposure — developed and emerging markets in one ticker. The international leg of a 3-fund portfolio.
Published May 17, 2026
Best emerging-markets ETFs
Funds covering equity markets outside the developed-country bucket — China, Taiwan, India, Brazil, South Korea (depending on index), and dozens of smaller markets. Used to dial up the emerging weight beyond what a total-international fund provides.
Published May 18, 2026
Bonds
Best aggregate bond ETFs
Single-fund US investment-grade bond exposure — Treasuries, agencies, corporates, mortgages, all of investment grade weighted by market value.
Published May 17, 2026
Best TIPS ETFs
Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities funds — bonds whose principal adjusts with CPI so the real (after-inflation) return is locked in. Standard inflation-hedge sleeve in a tax-advantaged account.
Published May 18, 2026
Best US Treasury ETFs
Treasury-only bond funds across short, intermediate, and long duration buckets. The pure-credit-free alternative to broad aggregate funds for investors who want bonds specifically to diversify equity risk.
Published May 18, 2026
Best municipal bond ETFs
Tax-exempt state and local government bonds in fund form. The only US asset class where the tax wrapper materially changes whether the fund belongs in a taxable account at all.
Published May 18, 2026
Income & specialty
Best dividend ETFs
Funds screening for dividend yield or dividend growth. Not the same as a total-market fund, and not a substitute for one — they hold a different set of names with different risk and tax profiles.
Published May 17, 2026
Best REIT ETFs
US real-estate investment trusts in fund form — equity stakes in commercial property operators, apartment landlords, and storage / cell-tower / data-center operators. A real-estate sleeve at modest fund cost.
Published May 18, 2026
Best gold ETFs
Physical-gold-backed exchange-traded funds. Direct exposure to spot gold without the complications of storage or futures rolls. Tax-treated as a collectible.
Published May 18, 2026
Other
Best international developed-markets ETFs
Developed-markets ex-US funds — Europe, Japan, and the rest of the developed world without the US. The standard complement to a US-only core, and the largest category in the catalog.
Published Jul 8, 2026
Best US large-cap value ETFs
Funds holding US large-caps screened for value characteristics — low price relative to book value, earnings, or sales. A deliberate tilt away from market weight, with real vendor-to-vendor disagreement about what counts as "value."
Published Jul 8, 2026
Best mid-cap ETFs
Mid-cap blend funds — the highest-scoring category in the catalog. How the S&P 400, CRSP, and Russell definitions of "mid-cap" differ, and how these funds relate to a total-market holding.
Published Jul 8, 2026
Best investment-grade corporate bond ETFs
US investment-grade corporate bond funds across the maturity spectrum — short, intermediate, long, and whole-market. Where the credit spread over Treasuries gets harvested in index form.
Published Jul 8, 2026
Best short-term Treasury ETFs
T-bill ladders, 1-3 year Treasury funds, and floating-rate note funds — the cash-adjacent end of the Treasury curve, with full state-tax exemption on the interest.
Published Jul 8, 2026
Best high-yield bond ETFs
Below-investment-grade ("junk") corporate bond funds — what the elevated yield is compensation for, how the category behaves in equity drawdowns, and why every fund here carries a tax-efficiency haircut.
Published Jul 8, 2026
Best technology sector ETFs
US information-technology sector funds — Apple, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and the chipmakers in one wrapper. What a "tech" fund actually holds under GICS rules, and how much of it a total-market fund already owns.
Published Jul 8, 2026
Best covered-call ETFs
Covered-call and buy-write funds — equity or bond portfolios with call options sold on top, converting potential price appreciation into a large monthly distribution. What the strategy trades away, and why the category scores low on tax efficiency.
Published Jul 8, 2026
Best one-fund portfolio ETFs
All-in-one allocation funds that hold a fixed stock/bond split inside a single ticker — a complete portfolio with no rebalancing to manage, at a higher fee than assembling the parts.
Published Jul 8, 2026
Best long-term Treasury ETFs
Long-duration US Treasury funds — 10-to-30-year government bonds with no credit risk and a lot of interest-rate risk. The deflation-hedge leg of Permanent-style portfolios, not a substitute for a core bond fund.
Published Jul 8, 2026
These guides are editorial. The funds shown are pulled from the live scored catalog; the prose around them is hand-written commentary. Both pieces are updated as the catalog grows.
Unfamiliar with a term? The glossary defines the recurring vocabulary in plain language.
Looking for spot bitcoin or ether ETPs? They're outside the scored catalog — the crypto-ETP page explains why, with a fee comparison of the major trusts.