🤝 BFF Take
VTI Wins on Cost; ESGV Wins on What You Actually Own
ESGV and VTI are both Vanguard funds that track the broad U.S. stock market, but they make different choices about what to hold. VTI tracks the CRSP US Total Market Index and owns roughly 3,600+ companies across every sector, including fossil fuel producers, tobacco companies, and weapons manufacturers. ESGV tracks the FTSE US All Cap Choice Index and screens those industries out by hard exclusion, resulting in about 1,500 holdings. The cost difference is real and it compounds: 0.09% for ESGV vs 0.03% for VTI. On $100,000, that is $60 more per year. Over 30 years at 7% annual returns, the compounding gap adds up to roughly $20,000 in additional fees paid. The two funds have a 0.99 correlation and nearly identical risk characteristics. Historically, VTI has delivered slightly higher returns, because the excluded sectors have sometimes outperformed during specific periods (energy stocks surged significantly in 2022, for example). The performance gap has been small and inconsistent across different time periods. This comparison is not fundamentally about performance. It is about whether the 0.06% annual premium is worth owning a portfolio that excludes specific industries you would rather not own. If that matters to you, ESGV delivers it at a reasonable cost. If it does not, VTI at 0.03% is one of the best-value funds in existence.
📋 Quick Takeaways
💰VTI costs 0.03%; ESGV costs 0.09%. That 0.06% gap compounds to roughly $20,000 on $100K over 30 years at 7% annual returns.
🏭VTI holds ~3,600 companies including fossil fuels, tobacco, and defense. ESGV screens those out by hard exclusion, leaving ~1,500 holdings.
📊0.99 correlation. Performance has been within 0.5%/yr of each other across most 5-year periods, with no consistent winner.
📊 Data-Based Take: VTI has the lower fee
Whether the lower-cost fund suits your situation depends on your existing holdings, account type, tax situation, and how you use each fund. This is a cost comparison, not a personalized recommendation.
✓
Reviewed by a CFA® Charterholder · Data updated Jun 2026 · Educational only, not financial advice
ESGV
Vanguard ESG U.S. Stock ETF
VTI
Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF
📋 ESGV vs VTI — Key Facts Side by Side
| Metric |
ESGV |
VTI |
| Fund Name |
Vanguard ESG U.S. Stock ETF |
Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF |
| Issuer |
Vanguard |
Vanguard |
| Tracks Index |
FTSE US All Cap Choice |
CRSP US Total Market |
| Expense Ratio |
0.09% |
0.03% ✓ |
| Cost per $10K/yr |
$9.00 |
$3.00 |
| AUM |
$13.1B |
$440B |
| Holdings |
1,500 |
3,632 |
| Inception |
2018 |
2001 |
| 1-Year Return |
+12.50% |
+12.90% |
| 3-Year Return |
+8.20% |
+8.50% |
| 5-Year Return |
+11.13% |
+11.61% |
| Avg Bid-Ask Spread |
0.01% |
0.00% |
Data from ETF BFF database. Returns are annualised. Not investment advice.
📊 ESGV vs VTI — Annualised Returns
Annualised returns (trailing, price-based). Past performance does not guarantee future results.
🎯 Should You Buy ESGV or VTI?
Choose if...
ESGV
- You already use Vanguard and prefer staying within their fund family
Choose if...
VTI
- You want the lowest fees — saves ~$6/yr per $10K vs ESGV
- You want broader diversification (3,632 holdings vs 1,500)
- You want the entire US stock market — large, mid, and small cap in one fund
📧 Free Weekly Newsletter
Get smarter about ETFs — one concept a week, free forever
The ETF BFF newsletter breaks down one ETF concept per week — clear, jargon-free, and actually useful.
✅ You're in! Check your inbox for your first issue.
❓ ESGV vs VTI — Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between ESGV and VTI?
Both ESGV and VTI are Vanguard ETFs that track the broad U.S. stock market, but they use different indexes with different inclusion rules. VTI tracks the CRSP US Total Market Index, holding roughly 3,600+ U.S. companies across every sector with no exclusions. ESGV tracks the FTSE US All Cap Choice Index, applying a hard exclusion list that removes fossil fuel companies, tobacco, weapons manufacturers, gambling operators, adult entertainment, and nuclear power. The result is around 1,500 holdings covering most of the market with those sectors removed. VTI costs 0.03%; ESGV costs 0.09%. See the
impact investing ETF guide for a full breakdown of what ESGV excludes and how it compares to other ESG options.
Does ESGV underperform VTI?
Over most measured periods, ESGV has trailed VTI by a small amount annually, typically 0.3% to 0.6%/yr. This is primarily a structural consequence of exclusions: when excluded sectors (especially energy) outperform the market, ESGV misses those gains. When those sectors underperform (as energy did from 2015 to 2021), ESGV has matched or beaten VTI. There is no consistent, predictable direction to the performance gap. It depends entirely on how excluded sectors perform during your holding period. The 0.06% expense ratio difference is guaranteed; the performance difference is not. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
Is the ESGV expense ratio premium worth it compared to VTI?
That depends entirely on whether owning fossil fuel, tobacco, and weapons companies in your portfolio bothers you. From a pure financial standpoint, VTI's 0.03% is one of the lowest expense ratios available for any fund, and it provides broader diversification across 3,600+ holdings. The 0.06% ESGV premium costs roughly $60/yr per $100,000 and compounds to approximately $20,000 over 30 years at 7% returns. If that gap is meaningful to you and you have no preference about what the fund holds, VTI is the stronger financial choice. If you would rather not own stakes in fossil fuel producers and tobacco companies, ESGV at 0.09% is a reasonable cost for that choice. The
expense ratios guide has a full compounding calculator to model your specific numbers.
Does switching from VTI to ESGV make a real-world difference?
This is the honest, contested part. When you buy either fund on a stock exchange, you are buying from another investor, not directly providing capital to the companies inside the fund. The companies themselves do not gain or lose funding when shares change hands on a secondary market. The mechanisms through which ESG fund ownership theoretically affects companies are shareholder voting (ESG funds vote proxies, sometimes more actively) and, at scale, potential pressure on companies' cost of capital. ESGV votes its shares and follows Vanguard's proxy voting policies. Whether an individual portfolio switch produces measurable real-world impact is genuinely debated. What is clear: your personal portfolio will not hold stakes in those industries, which some investors find meaningful regardless of aggregate market-level effects.
Can I replace VTI with ESGV in a 3-fund portfolio?
Yes, and many investors do. ESGV covers the U.S. stock market component similarly to how VTI does, with the same broad large/mid/small cap exposure after removing the excluded sectors. The swap introduces a 0.06% cost increase on the U.S. equity sleeve and excludes roughly 10-15% of the market by weight. For international and bond components, you would still use VXUS and BND (or equivalents), since ESGV is U.S.-only. If you want to extend the ESG approach to international equity, Vanguard's VSGX is the international equivalent of ESGV. See the
3-fund portfolio guide for the full construction framework.
New to ETF investing? See answers to the most common ETF questions →
ℹ️ Data shown is for educational purposes and may not reflect the most current figures. Returns are trailing price-based and exclude dividend reinvestment. Past performance does not guarantee future results. ETF BFF is not a licensed financial advisor — this is not personalized financial advice.