VFIAX vs. SWPPX: Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admi or Schwab S&P 500 Index Fund?
Figures last verified October 31, 2026
Vanguard's S&P 500 Admiral shares versus Schwab's. The index is identical by definition; the fight is fee, minimum, and house loyalty.
| VFIAX | SWPPX | |
|---|---|---|
| Fund | Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares | Schwab S&P 500 Index Fund |
| Family | Vanguard | Schwab |
| Category | S&P 500 / Large Blend | S&P 500 / Large Blend |
| Type | Index | Index |
| Expense ratio | 0.04% | 0.02% |
| Cost per $10k/yr | $4 | $2 |
| Minimum | $3,000 | $0 |
| Strategy | Tracks the S&P 500 — the 500 largest US companies, about 80% of total US market value. | Tracks the S&P 500 index of 500 large US companies. |
SWPPX wins the spec sheet — 0.02% and no minimum against 0.04% and $3,000 — but VFIAX carries the lineage of the original index fund. At these fees, account location is the only tiebreaker that matters.
About VFIAX
This is the direct descendant of the first index fund ever sold to the public — Jack Bogle's 1976 'folly' that now anchors trillions of dollars in retirement money. VFIAX holds the S&P 500 in its market weights and charges 0.04% to do it. Over the decades, that simple recipe has beaten the large majority of professionally managed large-cap funds, which is either embarrassing for the profession or liberating for you, depending on where you sit.
About SWPPX
Two basis points, no minimum, the S&P 500. SWPPX has quietly been one of the cheapest S&P 500 funds in existence for years, and it's a fine illustration of how completely the index price war has been won on behalf of ordinary savers: a fee this size on $100,000 is twenty dollars a year, less than the gas to drive to a financial advisor's office.
Whichever you pick, the principle is the same one that runs through this whole site: minimize cost, hold for decades, ignore the noise. See how both stack up against the field in our best index funds by category, or run the numbers yourself with the expense ratio calculator.
Expense ratios and minimums drawn from fund provider documentation; last verified October 31, 2026. Editorial opinion, not investment advice. Confirm figures against the official prospectus before investing.