Loading page
Preview data: all rankings, scores, votes, refresh labels, methodology, testing and editorial-process statements in Top 49 are illustrative demo content, not live measurements or documented reviews.
Investing · refreshed quarterly
Top 49 Index Funds & ETFs
Cost, structure and tracking discipline — not a forecast of where markets go next
This ranking is informational only and is not financial advice — nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any fund, and Top 49 does not know your circumstances well enough to make that call. What is scored is structural and stable: expense ratio, launch date, issuer and stated tracking methodology, none of which requires guessing where a market goes next. Every fund listed has a multi-year public track record; nothing here is a speculative or newly launched product riding a single good year.
20Entries ranked
297KReader votes
1 Jul 2026Data as of
The top three
Leading the list
Rank 01Editor’s pick
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO)
Vanguard · Launched 2010
VOO tracks the S&P 500 at one of the lowest expense ratios of any fund on this list, and Vanguard’s mutual ownership structure — the fund company is owned by its own funds — is the structural reason costs have stayed this low for over a decade.
96.5/100 Top 49 score—No changeRank 02Editor’s pick
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY)
State Street · Launched 1993
SPY was the first ETF ever listed in the United States and remains, by trading volume, the most liquid fund on earth — a structural advantage in execution cost that its lower-fee younger rivals still cannot fully replicate.
96.4/100 Top 49 score1Down 1Rank 03Editor’s pick
iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV)
BlackRock · Launched 2000
IVV sits structurally between SPY’s deep liquidity and VOO’s rock-bottom cost, matching VOO’s expense ratio while carrying BlackRock’s scale as the world’s largest asset manager behind it.
94.9/100 Top 49 score1Down 1
Full ranking
All 20 ranked
Filter, re-sort or switch view — every combination is a shareable URL.
Showing 1–12 of 20 ranked entries.
- Rank 1. Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO). Score 96.5 out of 100.—No change
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO)
Vanguard · Launched 2010
VOO tracks the S&P 500 at one of the lowest expense ratios of any fund on this list, and Vanguard’s mutual ownership structure — the fund company is owned by its own funds — is the structural reason costs have stayed this low for over a decade.
- Launched
- 2010
- Issuer
- Vanguard
- Category
- US Large-Cap
96.5/100 Top 49 scoreThe lowest-cost S&P 500 tracker on this list at 0.03%, tied with several close structural peers.
- Rank 2. SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY). Score 96.4 out of 100.1Down 1
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY)
State Street · Launched 1993
SPY was the first ETF ever listed in the United States and remains, by trading volume, the most liquid fund on earth — a structural advantage in execution cost that its lower-fee younger rivals still cannot fully replicate.
- Launched
- 1993
- Issuer
- State Street
- Category
- US Large-Cap
96.4/100 Top 49 scoreThe most liquid fund on earth by trading volume — a structural execution advantage its lower-fee, younger rivals still cannot fully replicate.
- Rank 3. iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV). Score 94.9 out of 100.1Down 1
iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV)
BlackRock · Launched 2000
IVV sits structurally between SPY’s deep liquidity and VOO’s rock-bottom cost, matching VOO’s expense ratio while carrying BlackRock’s scale as the world’s largest asset manager behind it.
- Launched
- 2000
- Issuer
- BlackRock
- Category
- US Large-Cap
94.9/100 Top 49 score - Rank 4. Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI). Score 94.2 out of 100.3Down 3
Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI)
Vanguard · Launched 2001
VTI extends beyond the S&P 500’s large-cap boundary to include mid- and small-cap US companies in a single fund, structurally the broadest single-ticket exposure to the US equity market available at this cost.
- Launched
- 2001
- Issuer
- Vanguard
- Category
- Broad Market
94.2/100 Top 49 score - Rank 5. Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ). Score 91.7 out of 100.1Down 1
Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ)
Invesco · Launched 1999
QQQ tracks the Nasdaq-100 rather than a broad market index, which structurally concentrates it in technology and growth-oriented companies far more than any general market fund on this list.
- Launched
- 1999
- Issuer
- Invesco
- Category
- US Large-Cap
91.7/100 Top 49 score - Rank 6. Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS). Score 90.2 out of 100.2Down 2
Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS)
Vanguard · Launched 2011
VXUS is structured to capture developed and emerging markets outside the US in one fund, the standard structural complement investors pair with a US-only fund like VTI for global diversification.
- Launched
- 2011
- Issuer
- Vanguard
- Category
- International
90.2/100 Top 49 score - Rank 7. Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND). Score 89.8 out of 100.—No change
Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND)
Vanguard · Launched 2007
BND tracks a broad US investment-grade bond index, structurally the fixed-income counterweight most commonly paired against equity funds like VTI in a diversified portfolio structure.
- Launched
- 2007
- Issuer
- Vanguard
- Category
- Bonds
89.8/100 Top 49 score - Rank 8. Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF (VEA). Score 88.5 out of 100.NewNew entry
Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF (VEA)
Vanguard · Launched 2007
VEA is structured around developed international markets specifically, excluding emerging markets, which gives it a narrower and structurally more stable international mandate than VXUS.
- Launched
- 2007
- Issuer
- Vanguard
- Category
- International
88.5/100 Top 49 score - Rank 9. Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO). Score 87.3 out of 100.1Down 1
Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO)
Vanguard · Launched 2005
VWO is structured specifically around emerging-market equities, a category that carries structurally different currency, regulatory and liquidity characteristics than developed-market funds on this list.
- Launched
- 2005
- Issuer
- Vanguard
- Category
- International
87.3/100 Top 49 score - Rank 10. Fidelity ZERO Total Market Index Fund (FZROX). Score 85.6 out of 100.NewNew entry
Fidelity ZERO Total Market Index Fund (FZROX)
Fidelity · Launched 2018
FZROX carries a structural expense ratio of exactly zero, a mutual fund rather than an ETF, and is only available directly through a Fidelity brokerage account rather than trading on an exchange.
- Launched
- 2018
- Issuer
- Fidelity
- Category
- Broad Market
85.6/100 Top 49 scoreThe only fund on this list with a genuinely zero expense ratio, though it only trades through one specific brokerage.
- Rank 11. Schwab U.S. Broad Market ETF (SCHB). Score 84.3 out of 100.2Up 2
Schwab U.S. Broad Market ETF (SCHB)
Charles Schwab · Launched 2009
SCHB is structured as Schwab’s low-cost, broad-market answer to VTI, tracking a similarly wide swath of the US equity market at a comparably minimal expense ratio.
- Launched
- 2009
- Issuer
- Charles Schwab
- Category
- Broad Market
84.3/100 Top 49 score - Rank 12. iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF (IEFA). Score 82.6 out of 100.4Up 4
iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF (IEFA)
BlackRock · Launched 2012
IEFA is structured around the MSCI EAFE methodology, covering developed markets in Europe, Australasia and the Far East specifically, a slightly different index construction than Vanguard’s comparable developed-markets fund.
- Launched
- 2012
- Issuer
- BlackRock
- Category
- International
82.6/100 Top 49 score
How this list is scored
Four criteria, weighted before the first entry
Scoring is based on structural fund mechanics — expense ratio, tracking methodology, diversification breadth — never on historical or projected returns.
- Cost efficiency 30%
- Expense ratio relative to the fund’s category and structure.
- Tracking discipline 25%
- How closely the fund’s stated methodology adheres to its target index.
- Structural liquidity 25%
- Bid-ask spread tightness and structural ease of entering or exiting a position.
- Diversification breadth 20%
- Number and spread of underlying holdings relative to the fund’s stated category.
Questions
About this ranking
Is this list financial advice or a recommendation to buy any of these funds?
No. Top 49 is not a financial adviser, and nothing on this page should be read as a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security. This ranking is informational and describes fund structure only — always consider your own circumstances or consult a licensed adviser before investing.
Why does the ranking use expense ratio instead of past returns?
Expense ratio is a known, fixed, structural cost. Past returns are backward-looking, do not predict future performance, and including them would risk implying a forecast this ranking is not making.
Does a lower expense ratio always mean a better fund?
It is weighted heavily but not exclusively — tracking discipline, structural liquidity and diversification breadth all factor in too, since a slightly pricier fund with tighter tracking can be the more efficient structural choice.
What does “tracking discipline” actually measure?
How consistently a fund’s methodology follows its stated index rules, based on publicly disclosed fund documentation — not a judgement about the index itself or its future performance.
Keep going
Related rankings
16 rankedBest Dividend ETFs
Screening methodology and cost, described without a yield promise attached
250K votesquarterly
20 rankedTop 49 Banks & Financial Institutions
Financial strength and service breadth — mechanics, not market calls
293K votesquarterly
20 rankedTop 49 Index Funds & ETFs
Cost, structure and tracking discipline — not a forecast of where markets go next
297K votesquarterly
Explore more of Top 49
Top 49 rankings are editorial. Scores are produced from the published criteria on each list and are refreshed on the cadence stated there. Figures shown across this section are curated demonstration data.