Treasury ETFs in 2026: Five Funds Compared on Yield, Duration and Fees

Three Vanguard funds, VGSH, VGIT and VGLT, carry the lowest expense ratio in this list at 0.03%, and their 30-day SEC yields run from 4.81% to 5.50% as of October 22, 2026. The two iShares funds, SGOV and SHV, charge more and yield less, but they hold much shorter Treasuries. Duration is the main difference: across the five funds, the issuers' own figures run from 0.12 years to 13.2 years.

This page compares five Treasury ETFs from two issuers, iShares and Vanguard. SPDR's BIL, Schwab's SCHO and iShares' TLT are left out, so this is not a ranking of every Treasury fund.

Financeradar data: the online brokers page compares 7 online brokers and was updated October 25, 2026. A broker's own trading charges, where it levies them, sit on top of the expense ratios below, so the full cost of holding a fund depends partly on where you buy it.

Expense ratio, SEC yield and duration

Each yield and duration figure carries the label its issuer prints and that issuer's as-of date. Expense ratios appear as each issuer prints them: Vanguard dates its three to December 19, 2025, and iShares prints no date beside its two. Yields move daily, so the figures here are the issuers' readings for October 22, 2026.

Issuer pages behind each row: iShares SGOV, iShares SHV, Vanguard VGSH, Vanguard VGIT and Vanguard VGLT.

Vanguard dates its expense ratios to December 19, 2025. iShares lists 0.09% for SGOV and 0.15% for SHV.

Inception, payouts and index

The index decides which Treasuries a fund holds, so the index name tells you more about the fund's maturity range than the fund name does. SGOV's index covers Treasuries with maturities of 0-3 months, and SHV's covers those with one year or less remaining. The three Vanguard indexes cover 1-3 years, 3-10 years and longer maturities, which is why their durations rise in the same order.

SHV carries 19 holdings as of October 23, 2026, under iShares' Number of Holdings label. Vanguard counts 93, 103 and 102 securities for VGSH, VGIT and VGLT, as of September 30, 2026. The two issuers count differently, so the numbers are not directly comparable.

Two yield labels for the iShares funds

iShares prints a 30 Day SEC Yield and a 12m Trailing Yield for both of its funds. For SGOV, the two read 3.76% and 3.64% as of October 22, 2026. For SHV, they read 3.87% and 3.63% on the same date. The trailing figure looks back over a year of payouts, while the SEC yield is a standardized 30-day figure, so the two can differ, as they do here.

Vanguard's fund pages describe the SEC yield as a formula mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This page compares the Vanguard funds on that figure alone, because the trailing comparison covers the two iShares funds only.

Treat a yield as a snapshot. Both SEC yields and trailing yields change with the rates the fund holds, and a fund's yield on a single day tells you little about the year ahead. Compare the same label on the same date, and treat any gap of a few hundredths of a point as noise.

Duration in each issuer's terms

iShares prints effective duration: 0.12 years for SGOV and 0.27 years for SHV. Vanguard prints average duration: 1.8 years for VGSH, 4.8 years for VGIT and 13.2 years for VGLT, each as of September 30, 2026. The labels differ, so compare within an issuer before comparing across issuers.

A longer duration means a fund's price reacts more to a change in yields. A fund with a duration of about a quarter year holds bonds that mature soon, so its price moves little when yields change. A fund with a duration above a decade can move a lot on the same change, although both funds hold US Treasuries.

Who each fund fits

1. SGOV, iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF. It fits a saver holding cash for months who wants monthly payouts and the least price movement in this list, on the issuer's 0.12-year effective duration. The weak point is yield. Its 3.76% SEC yield is the lowest of the five, 1.74 points below VGLT's 5.50%. Its expense ratio also sits above the Vanguard funds' level.

2. SHV, iShares 0-1 Year Treasury Bond ETF. It fits a buyer who wants Treasuries maturing within a year and accepts a little more duration than SGOV carries. The weak point is cost. Its 0.15% expense ratio is the highest of the five, and its 3.87% SEC yield sits only 0.11 points above SGOV's.

3. VGSH, Vanguard Short-Term Treasury ETF. It fits a buyer who wants 1-3 year Treasuries at the same 0.03% expense ratio as VGIT and VGLT, the lowest on this list, and can tolerate more price movement than the iShares pair. The weak point is duration. Its 1.8 years of average duration is more than six times the 0.27 years of effective duration that iShares prints for SHV. The labels differ, so treat that ratio as a rough gap, and its price swings more when yields rise.

4. VGIT, Vanguard Intermediate-Term Treasury ETF. It fits a buyer who wants Treasury exposure centered on 3-10 year maturities, with a 5.04% SEC yield. The weak point is its 4.8 years of average duration, about 2.7 times VGSH's, for 0.23 points of extra SEC yield.

5. VGLT, Vanguard Long-Term Treasury ETF. It fits a long-horizon buyer who wants the highest SEC yield in the list, 5.50%, and can live with the longest duration here. The weak point is that duration. At 13.2 years of average duration, it carries the largest rate sensitivity of the five on the issuers' own figures.

How the costs compare

The closest comparison to SGOV is SPDR's Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF, whose benchmark is a 1-3 month Treasury bill index rather than a 0-3 month one. Its page lists an expense ratio of 0.1353%, which SPDR labels gross of any fee waivers, with NAV dated October 22, 2026. That is about 0.05 percentage points a year above SGOV's 0.09%, though the two figures may not be on the same basis. The indexes differ, so the two are near substitutes rather than the same product.

SGOV's fee also appears differently in archived copies of its iShares page. A July 6, 2022 capture printed an Expense Ratio of 0.12% and a Net Expense Ratio of 0.05%. A May 29, 2024 capture printed 0.13% and 0.07%. The current page prints one Expense Ratio of 0.09%, with no gross or net split and no date. Treat the comparison as a rough trend.

The expense ratio is not the only cost. Buying through a broker can involve commissions or spreads, and the expense ratio is charged inside the fund's price, so it does not show up as a separate line on a statement. Compare the two costs together when you decide where to buy.

Where Treasury funds sit against bank savings

Treasury funds compete with bank accounts for the same cash, so the comparison does not end with the fund pages. For the bank side, see the savings accounts ranking, the money market accounts ranking, the CD rates ranking and the rate tracker. The high-yield savings statistics show how that category's rates look on Financeradar's own tracker.

A bank account and a Treasury fund answer different questions. A savings account gives a stated rate and a fixed balance, while a fund gives a yield that changes with its holdings and a share price that moves. For cash you may need within a few months, the where to put cash guide sets out the trade-offs. For government savings bonds, the I bond rates page covers that separate product. For a different kind of fund altogether, the cheapest bitcoin ETFs page compares funds that hold no Treasuries.

Frequently asked questions

Which fund in this list has the lowest expense ratio?

The three Vanguard funds, VGSH, VGIT and VGLT, each print 0.03%, the lowest of the five on this page. Vanguard dates the figure to December 19, 2025.

Do all five funds pay monthly?

Yes. iShares lists monthly distributions for SGOV and SHV, and Vanguard's pages show a monthly schedule for VGSH, VGIT and VGLT.

Why do the duration labels differ?

iShares prints effective duration and Vanguard prints average duration. Compare figures within each issuer's family first, since the two labels are not identical.

Which fund fits cash needed within a few months?

SGOV has the shortest duration on the list at 0.12 years on the issuer's figure, which suits money held for months. Its trade-off is the lowest SEC yield of the five, so it fits a buyer who values price stability over income.

Does this list cover every Treasury ETF?

No. The page covers five funds from iShares and Vanguard. SPDR's BIL, Schwab's SCHO and iShares' TLT are left out, and other Treasury funds exist beyond this list.

Disclosure

This page is general information, not personalized financial advice. Confirm the current expense ratio, yield, distribution terms and tax treatment with the fund provider before you buy. Financeradar may earn a commission from some links; it never affects rankings (how we make money). More general guides are in the Financeradar guides section.

Cite this: Financeradar, "Treasury ETFs in 2026: Five Funds Compared on Yield, Duration and Fees", October 2026.