ITOT vs VUG: how much do they really overlap?
ITOT (iShares Core S&P Total US Stock Market ETF, tracking the S&P Total Market) and VUG (Vanguard Growth ETF, tracking the CRSP US Large Cap Growth) overlap by roughly 73% by weight. 8 of ITOT's top 10 holdings also appear in VUG. A 50/50 blend of the two behaves like about 33 equally-weighted bets (diversification grade B). In short, the two funds share most of their weight in the same names; the second fund adds only modest differentiation.
The same companies, in both funds
These 25 holdings appear in both ITOT and VUG. The weight columns show how much of each fund each name represents.
| Holding | in ITOT | in VUG |
|---|---|---|
| AAPL APPLE INC | 6.78% | 11.64% |
| NVDA NVIDIA CORP | 6.54% | 12.60% |
| MSFT MICROSOFT CORP | 4.64% | 7.60% |
| AMZN AMAZON.COM INC | 3.19% | 4.46% |
| GOOGL ALPHABET INC CLASS A | 2.71% | 5.74% |
| AVGO BROADCOM INC | 2.54% | 4.27% |
| GOOG ALPHABET INC CLASS C | 2.18% | 4.52% |
| META META PLATFORMS INC CLASS A | 1.64% | 3.40% |
| LLY ELI LILLY | 1.26% | 2.80% |
| TSLA TESLA INC | 1.20% | 3.26% |
| AMD ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES INC | 1.09% | 2.61% |
| V VISA INC CLASS A | 0.84% | 1.54% |
| MA MASTERCARD INC CLASS A | 0.64% | 1.13% |
| INTC INTEL CORPORATION | 0.60% | 0.79% |
| COST COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP | 0.59% | 1.15% |
+ 10 more shared holdings.
Only in ITOT
iShares Core S&P Total US Stock Market ETF — total US market. Its biggest holdings that VUG doesn’t have:
| MU MICRON TECHNOLOGY INC | 1.36% |
| JPM JPMORGAN CHASE & CO | 1.30% |
| BRKB BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC CLASS B | 1.30% |
| XOM EXXONMOBIL HOLDINGS CORP | 0.90% |
| JNJ JOHNSON & JOHNSON | 0.85% |
| WMT WALMART INC | 0.67% |
| ABBV ABBVIE INC | 0.63% |
| CSCO CISCO SYSTEMS INC | 0.62% |
Only in VUG
Vanguard Growth ETF — US large-cap growth. Its biggest holdings that ITOT doesn’t have:
| SNDK Sandisk Corp. | 0.94% |
| MRVL Marvell Technology Inc. | 0.75% |
| WDC Western Digital Corp. | 0.62% |
| APH Amphenol Corp. Class A | 0.61% |
| STX Seagate Technology Holdings plc | 0.61% |
| MCD McDonald's Corp. | 0.54% |
| CRWD Crowdstrike Holdings Inc. Class A | 0.52% |
| ANET Arista Networks Inc. | 0.52% |
So — heavily overlapping. Should you hold both?
ITOT and VUG share most of their weight in the same names; the second fund adds only modest differentiation. If you already hold ITOT, adding VUG mostly increases your bet on the names they share rather than spreading it — a 50/50 blend still behaves like only ~33 equal positions, with the top 10 alone at 46% and the Magnificent Seven at 41%.
Holdings as of — ITOT: Jul 30, 2026 (iShares (BlackRock)); VUG: Jun 30, 2026 (Vanguard). Refreshed monthly. Overlap is measured across each fund’s largest holdings (top 50); the diffuse long tail barely moves the math.
See this for YOUR whole portfolio, free →ITOT vs VUG — FAQ
- How much do ITOT and VUG overlap?
- ITOT and VUG overlap by approximately 73% measured by portfolio weight — that is the share of the smaller fund's holdings (by weight) that also sit inside the other. 8 of ITOT's 10 largest holdings are also held by VUG. They share 25 of their listed top holdings in total.
- Is it redundant to hold both ITOT and VUG?
- Because they share most of their weight in the same names; the second fund adds only modest differentiation, holding both is largely redundant — you mostly duplicate the same megacaps and concentrate rather than diversify. A 50/50 blend has an effective 33 positions and a B diversification grade.
- What does VUG hold that ITOT doesn't?
- VUG's largest holdings that ITOT doesn't hold include SNDK, MRVL, WDC, APH, STX. Its category is US large-cap growth, versus ITOT's total US market.
- Which is more concentrated, ITOT or VUG?
- ITOT's top 10 holdings are 59% of its listed weight; VUG's are 69%. The more concentrated fund leans harder on its largest names.