Equal Weight S&P 500 ETF Ranked by Fee for Vanguard Investors

The cheapest equal weight S&P 500 style ETFs are GSEW and EUSA at 0.09% a year, less than half of RSP's 0.20%. Only RSP, the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF, tracks the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index itself; GSEW and EUSA equal weight their own lists of roughly 500 large US companies. Vanguard does not sell an equal weight S&P 500 ETF or mutual fund, so a Vanguard investor buys one of these at Vanguard Brokerage or blends VOO with RSP to set how much equal weight they want.

Most people looking for an equal weight S&P 500 ETF already hold VOO or SPY and have noticed how much of it sits in a handful of companies. On October 1, 2026 the Magnificent 7 were 34.5% of SPY. An equal weight fund gives each of about 500 companies the same small slice instead, roughly 0.2% each at every reset, so Nvidia counts no more than a regional utility.

That is a real choice with a real cost, and the funds that sell it are not interchangeable. Below they are ranked by fee, with the index each one follows, how often it resets and how concentrated it actually is. Fees and assets were checked on October 6, 2026. We make index construction and backtesting software; we do not sell funds or give investment advice.

Equal weight S&P 500 ETF ranking by fee

If the label on the fund matters to you, the list is short: RSP is the only US ETF here that tracks the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index, which uses exactly the same companies as the S&P 500 and gives each a fixed 0.2% at every quarterly rebalance. If the idea matters more than the label, GSEW and EUSA deliver almost the same portfolio for $110 a year less on every $100,000.

Is there a Vanguard equal weight S&P 500 ETF?

No. Vanguard does not offer an equal weight S&P 500 ETF or mutual fund. Its S&P 500 funds, VOO and VFIAX, are market cap weighted, and none of its index funds uses equal weighting. A Vanguard investor who wants equal weight has two practical routes: buy RSP, GSEW or EUSA inside a Vanguard Brokerage account, where online ETF trades carry no commission, or keep VOO and add an equal weight fund next to it.

The second route is underrated. You do not have to choose between 100% cap weight and 100% equal weight. A 70/30 mix of VOO and RSP, for example, cuts the top heavy tilt without walking away from the index you already own, and it costs a blended 0.081% a year instead of 0.20%. The right mix is a number you can test rather than guess, which is where the equal weight index builder comes in: load VOO and RSP as two lines, try a few splits, and compare the drawdowns over the same dates.

RSP vs GSEW vs EUSA, what you actually get

All three hold about 500 large US companies at close to equal weight, and their top ten holdings are tiny: 2.62% of RSP's assets, 2.76% of GSEW's and 2.82% of EUSA's in the listings we checked on October 6, 2026. Compare that with SPY, where seven companies alone were more than a third of the fund.

The differences are in the details. GSEW resets to equal weight every month, according to its prospectus, and reconstitutes its list in May and November; RSP and EUSA reset quarterly. A monthly reset keeps the weights closer to equal but trades more often. EUSA's MSCI USA list reaches a little further into mid caps, which is why it held 515 names, and its largest positions on October 6 included Strategy (MSTR) and Okta, companies RSP holds only if they are S&P 500 members. RSP's own top line was led by Everpure, Moderna and Illumina at 0.25% to 0.29% each.

RSP's advantages are size and trading. At $95.4 billion it is by far the largest equal weight fund, its bid ask spread is tight, and options trade on it, which matters to anyone who hedges. For a buy and hold investor adding money monthly, none of that is worth $110 a year per $100,000, and GSEW or EUSA is the better buy. For a trader or an adviser running large blocks, RSP's liquidity is why it costs more.

Why does EQAL look so different?

Because the Russell 1000 Equal Weight Index weights sectors first. It splits the fund equally across nine sector groups, then equally among the stocks inside each group. A sector with few members gets the same total weight as technology or financials, so each of its stocks gets a much bigger slice. On October 6 that put Viavi Solutions, Applied Optoelectronics, Lumentum and Ciena at the top of EQAL, 0.51% to 0.55% each, with a top ten of 4.97%, almost twice RSP's.

That is a deliberate design, not an error, and it produces a portfolio that leans toward smaller sectors like telecom and utilities. It is a good fund if you want sector balance. It is not a substitute for the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index, and buying it as one can surprise you in a year when those small sectors lag.

EQWL, equal weight with only 100 stocks

EQWL equal weights the S&P 100, the largest 100 or so companies in the S&P 500, so each stock gets about 1% rather than 0.2%. Its top ten was 11.57% of the fund on October 6, led by AMD, Palo Alto Networks and Applied Materials at 1.12% to 1.24% each. It keeps the mega caps at equal size without dragging in 400 smaller companies, which makes it the closest thing to "equal weight, large companies only". At 0.25% it is also the most expensive fund in the list.

How to choose the best equal weight S&P 500 ETF for your account

Start with the reason you want equal weight. If it is concentration, the question is how much of your total portfolio should sit in the top ten names, and the answer depends on what else you hold. Someone with $400,000 in VOO and $50,000 in RSP is still mostly cap weighted. Our S&P 493 index page puts numbers on that, showing how each blend changes the Magnificent 7 share, and the S&P 500 without Magnificent 7 ETF ranking covers funds that drop the seven completely rather than shrinking them.

Then compare on cost, because the funds are close enough in what they hold that the fee is often the deciding difference. A practical sequence:

1. Decide whether you need the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index by name (RSP) or just a broad equal weight large cap fund (GSEW or EUSA at 0.09%).
2. Decide how much equal weight you want across the whole account, then size the fund against your cap weighted holdings.
3. Backtest the blend against VOO alone over at least ten years, including 2020 and 2022, and look at drawdown and the years equal weight lagged, not just the total.
4. Buy the fund in the account where its dividends are taxed least. All five pay dividends, and RSP's trailing yield was about 1.5%.

On the last point, equal weight funds trade more than cap weighted ones at each reset, which can produce occasional capital gains distributions in a taxable account. Those show up on your 1099-DIV next to the ordinary dividends, and if you hold the fund outside an IRA it is worth checking that box when you file the 1099-DIV with your return.

Equal weight S&P 500 ETF questions

What is the best equal weight S&P 500 ETF?

For the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index itself, RSP is the only choice, at 0.20%. For the cheapest equal weight large cap exposure, GSEW and EUSA both charge 0.09% and hold about 500 companies each. RSP is the better fit for traders who need its $95 billion of liquidity and options; GSEW or EUSA suits a buy and hold investor.

What is the RSP expense ratio?

RSP charges 0.20% a year, $200 on every $100,000. That is about seven times VOO's 0.03% and a bit over twice GSEW's and EUSA's 0.09%. Invesco has kept RSP's fee at 0.20% even as the fund passed $95 billion in assets in 2026.

How often is RSP rebalanced?

Quarterly. At each reset the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index sets every company back to the same weight, about 0.2% of the index, so the fund sells some of what rose and buys some of what fell. Between resets the weights drift. GSEW resets monthly instead, and EUSA quarterly.

Is equal weight better than market cap weight?

Neither wins every period. Equal weight leans toward smaller companies and value, so it tends to lead when the largest stocks lag and trail when a few giants drive the market, as they did for much of the last decade. The fair test is your own blend over the same dates, which the market cap vs equal weight comparison walks through.

Test the blend before you buy the fund

Every fund on this list makes the same promise, a portfolio less dependent on a few companies, and differs only in how strictly and how cheaply it keeps it. The part no fund can decide for you is the mix. Put VOO, RSP, GSEW or EUSA in a basket at the weights you are considering, run it in the portfolio backtest against VOO alone, and look at the worst year as well as the average one. If you would rather equal weight a shorter list you choose yourself, such as the Magnificent 7 index or a sector you know well, the same builder holds up to 20 names at equal weight and resets them on your schedule.