The best S&P 500 UCITS ETFs
For most long-term investors outside the US, the best S&P 500 fund is simply the cheapest accumulating UCITS ETF: the funds below all track the same 500 companies, so fees and dividend policy are what separate them. All are Irish-domiciled, which cuts the US dividend withholding tax from 30% to 15% and keeps you outside US estate tax.
- Cheapest: CSPX at 0.07% a year (iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF).
- Hands-off pick: CSPX, dividends reinvested automatically.
- For income: VUSA, pays dividends out as cash.
Torn between the top two? See CSPX vs VUAG head to head →
How this ranking works
Funds are ranked by annual fee (TER), cheapest first, using the same live dataset that powers the rest of TickerCompare; returns are total returns converted to USD and refresh throughout the trading day. Funds tracking the same index are near-interchangeable, so we treat cost as the main tiebreaker and flag dividend policy so you can match the fund to how you invest. This is educational information, not financial advice.
Available on Interactive Brokers
Buy CSPX, VUAG and thousands of other UCITS ETFs on Interactive Brokers.
Frequently asked questions
Which is the cheapest S&P 500 UCITS ETF?
CSPX (iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF) is currently the cheapest at 0.07% a year. Because index funds tracking the same index hold the same things, the cheapest fund usually wins over time.
Which S&P 500 ETF performed best over five years?
CSPX returned +82.4% in USD over the past five years. Performance differences between funds tracking the same index are tiny; fees and dividend policy matter more than past returns.
Should I pick the accumulating or distributing version?
CSPX reinvests dividends automatically (accumulating), while VUSA pays them out as cash (distributing). Long-term investors who do not need the income usually pick accumulating for effortless compounding.
Why not just buy VOO or SPY?
VOO and SPY are US-domiciled funds. Brokers in the UK and EU cannot legally sell them to retail investors, and even where they are available they cost non-US holders more in dividend withholding tax (30% instead of 15%) and can expose large holdings to US estate tax. The UCITS versions on this page avoid all three problems.
What is the difference between VUAG and VUSA?
They are the same Vanguard fund with one difference: VUAG reinvests dividends automatically (accumulating) while VUSA pays them out as cash every quarter (distributing). Long-term investors who do not need income usually pick the accumulating version.