ETF Cost Calculator
See what an ETF's expense ratio really costs you over the years — in dollars, not just percentages.
Final value after fees
$131,162
Final value without fees
$140,204
Total cost of fees
$9,042
A 0.5% expense ratio consumes about 6.4% of your final portfolio value over 20 years.
Is your ETF worth its fee?
Stoxly scores any ETF on 10 criteria — expense ratio, fund size, diversification, risk and performance — in seconds, for free.
Analyze your ETF for freeHow the ETF cost calculator works
The calculator projects your investment twice: once at your expected annual return, and once at that return minus the expense ratio. Both projections compound monthly and include your monthly contributions. The difference between the two final values is the true cost of the fee — not just the fees you paid directly, but also the returns those fees never got the chance to earn.
That compounding effect is why a fee that looks tiny on paper matters: at a 7% return over 20 years, a 0.5% expense ratio quietly consumes roughly a tenth of your final portfolio. Between two ETFs tracking the same index, the cheaper one wins by default — the rest of the fund's quality is what our free ETF analysis checks.
Frequently asked questions
What is an expense ratio (TER)?+
The expense ratio — or total expense ratio (TER) — is the annual fee an ETF charges, expressed as a percentage of your investment. A 0.5% expense ratio costs $50 per year on a $10,000 position. It is deducted from the fund’s assets automatically, so you never see a bill, which makes it easy to underestimate.
Why do small fee differences matter so much?+
Fees compound just like returns do. Money lost to fees each year also stops earning returns in every following year, so a 0.5% annual fee can consume well over 10% of your final portfolio value across a few decades. Comparing two similar ETFs by expense ratio is one of the few return boosters that involves no extra risk.
What is a good expense ratio for an ETF?+
Broad index ETFs commonly charge 0.03%–0.20%, so anything in that range is competitive. Specialized sector, factor, or actively managed ETFs often charge 0.4%–0.8% or more — acceptable only if the strategy genuinely justifies the drag. Stoxly’s free ETF analysis scores the expense ratio alongside nine other fund criteria.
Projections are illustrative and assume constant returns. For educational purposes only. Not financial advice. All investments carry risk of loss.