VWRP vs VUAG, side by side
This is a genuine choice, not a wrapper technicality. VWRP holds the whole investable world - roughly 3,600 companies across the US, Europe, Japan and emerging markets - so no single country decides your outcome. VUAG holds only the S&P 500: America's 500 biggest companies, heavy in technology. Because the US is already over half of a world fund, the two overlap a lot - VUAG is essentially a concentrated, US-only slice of what VWRP owns.
Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF (Acc)VWRP.L£140.58+23% 1Y
Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF (Acc)VUAG.L£108.24+22% 1YVWRP
Around 3,600 large and mid-sized companies across both developed and emerging markets - close to the whole investable world in one fund.
VUAG
The 500 largest companies listed in the United States (Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia and the rest), with dividends reinvested inside the fund.
The numbers, side by side
| Measure | VWRP | VUAG |
|---|---|---|
| What it tracks | FTSE All-World | S&P 500 |
| OCF: Ongoing Charge Figure: the fund's yearly running cost, taken automatically. 0.22% is about £2.20 a year for every £1,000 you hold. | 0.22% | 0.07% |
| Acc / Dist: Accumulating (Acc) reinvests dividends inside the fund automatically; Distributing (Dist) pays them to you as cash. Same index either way. | Acc | Acc |
| Holdings: Roughly how many different investments the fund spreads your money across. More holdings usually means more diversification. | ~3,600 | 500 |
| Domicile | Ireland | Ireland |
| Replication | Physical (holds the underlying shares) | Physical (holds the underlying shares) |
| Yield: The income the fund has paid out over the past year as a percentage of its price. Accumulating funds reinvest this for you instead of paying cash. | Reinvested inside the fund | Reinvested inside the fund |
| Price | £140.58 | £108.24 |
| 1Y: How much the share price has moved over the past year. | +23% | +22% |
How they differ
These are genuinely different investments: VWRP tracks FTSE All-World while VUAG tracks S&P 500 - the real question is region and mix, not the wrapper. On their biggest holdings, they share 9 of the top 10, worth at least about 21% of each - so holding both would add little diversification, you'd largely own the same names twice. The fees differ: VWRP charges 0.22% a year and VUAG charges 0.07%. On £10,000 growing at an illustrative 6.5% a year that gap compounds to roughly £967 over 20 years - purely from cost, and an illustration rather than a forecast.
Descriptive only - how the two compare on today's data, never a verdict on either.
VWRP, in one line
One tap and you own a sliver of roughly 3,600 companies across basically the entire planet, dividends quietly reinvested for you.
Read the full VWRP explainer →VUAG, in one line
The 500 biggest American companies in one very low-cost package, with every dividend quietly reinvested for you.
Read the full VUAG explainer →Common questions
Which is more diversified?
VWRP, clearly - it spreads across thousands of companies and dozens of countries, while VUAG is 500 US firms concentrated in big technology. The trade-off is that a US-only fund did better in the recent tech-led decade; different decades have favoured different markets, and past results are no guide.
Is it double-counting to hold both?
Largely, yes - the US portion of VWRP already contains most of VUAG's holdings, so owning both mainly just tilts you further towards America. Many people simply hold the world fund and leave the country weights to the market.