SGOV vs BIL vs USFR: Which Cash ETF Pays You the Most?
All three hold US government debt that matures within months, and all three barely move. So we tracked $10,000 in each for six years to see which one actually paid more.
By Pavel Penev, MScFounder, TradeWize · 10+ years trading the marketsSGOV, BIL and USFR are where a lot of people park cash they don't want in the stock market. All three hold only US Treasury debt. All three pay out every month. And all three move so little that a bad month is a few hundredths of a percent.
So the question is which one pays you the most. The fee is the obvious place to look, and it gives the wrong answer. We put $10,000 in each at the close on 1 June 2020, SGOV's first full trading day, reinvested every payment, and checked the result on 2026-10-23.
The short answer
USFR earned the most, even though it charges the highest fee. $10,000 grew to $12,169 in USFR, $12,080 in SGOV and $11,987 in BIL. SGOV beat BIL in every calendar year, thanks to a lower fee and a wider choice of bills. The gap between best and worst is $182 over six years, so any of the three does the job. Pick USFR for the highest yield today, SGOV for the lowest fee and the biggest fund.
What this article is, and isn't
This is a comparison of three funds' published facts and their past returns, not a recommendation. TradeWize isn't a broker or an adviser and earns nothing from any of these funds. Every fund figure was read off the issuer's own page and is linked at the end. Past returns don't promise future ones.
SGOV vs BIL vs USFR at a glance
| SGOV | BIL | USFR | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Issuer | iShares | State Street SPDR | WisdomTree |
| Fee a year | 0.09% | 0.1353% | 0.15% |
| Fee on $10,000 | $9 | $13.53 | $15 |
| 30-day SEC yield | 3.76% | 3.76% | 3.99% |
| Paid out, last 12 months | 3.64% | 3.66% | 3.76% (latest payment, annualised) |
| Duration | 0.12 years | 0.1 years | 0.02 years |
| What it holds | T-bills maturing in 0-3 months | T-bills maturing in 1-3 months | Four 2-year floating-rate Treasury notes |
| Size | $116.8bn | $51.1bn | $21.2bn |
| Launched | 2020 | 2007 | 2014 |
Read off iShares, State Street and WisdomTree's fund pages on 2026-10-23. Yields and duration as of 22 October 2026. The SEC yield is the fund's income over the last 30 days after its fee, so it's the fairest way to compare what each pays now.
Look at the fee row and SGOV wins. Look at the yield row and USFR wins by 0.23 percentage points. That's $23 a year on $10,000, which is more than the $6 its higher fee costs you.
What $10,000 became in each
USFR finished $182 ahead of BIL. USFR beat SGOV by $89, and SGOV beat BIL by $92. On $10,000 over six years, none of that changes your life. On a house deposit sitting in cash for a few years, it's real money.
Month-end value in SGOV and USFR minus the same $10,000 in BIL, distributions reinvested. From the 1 June 2020 close to 2026-10-23.
Both lines only go up. SGOV pulls ahead of BIL slowly and steadily. USFR jumps ahead in 2022 and 2023, when the Fed was raising rates fast, and keeps most of that lead.
Year by year
December close to December close. 2026 runs to 2026-10-23. Our 1-year and 3-year figures to 30 September 2026 match each issuer's published market-price returns.
USFR won 3 of the 5 full years: 2022, 2023, 2024. In 2021 rates were near zero and all three earned about nothing. In 2025, when rates were coming down, SGOV edged ahead, 4.24% against USFR's 4.23%.
SGOV beat BIL in every one of those years. They hold almost the same thing, so the difference is mostly the fee: 0.09% against 0.1353%.
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Try the free lesson →Why the dearest fund earned the most
SGOV and BIL hold Treasury bills. A bill is a short loan to the US government. You buy it for a bit less than it's worth, and it pays you the full amount when it matures in a few weeks or months. The fund keeps rolling into new bills, so its yield follows interest rates with a short delay.
USFR holds something different: 4 floating-rate Treasury notes. These are 2-year loans to the government whose interest resets every week to the latest 3-month bill rate, plus a small extra amount fixed when each note is sold. That extra amount is the main reason USFR pays more.
The weekly reset explains the year-by-year pattern. When rates rise, USFR's income rises within a week, while a bill fund waits for its old bills to mature. That's why USFR led in 2022. When rates fall, USFR's income falls within a week too, while SGOV keeps the higher rates it locked in for up to three months. That's why SGOV edged ahead in 2025.
Duration: why none of them really moves
Duration tells you roughly how many percent a fund's price falls if interest rates rise by one percentage point. SGOV's is 0.12 years, BIL's 0.1 and USFR's 0.02. So a one-point rate rise would cost about a tenth of a percent at most. A long-term bond fund can lose more than 10% on the same move.
The risks, such as they are
- Credit risk is the same for all three: they lend only to the US government. If that loan goes bad, cash anywhere has bigger problems.
- USFR's price can dip a little when buyers want a bigger extra amount on new floating-rate notes. Its worst month in our test was still a fall of under a tenth of a percent.
- When rates fall, all three pay less. None of them gains in price the way a long bond fund does. That's the cost of never losing much.
- Each fund trades on an exchange, so you pay the spread between the buy and sell price. iShares and WisdomTree publish a 30-day median spread of 0.01% for SGOV and 0.02% for USFR. Use a limit order anyway.
The monthly payments are interest, so they're taxed as income in most countries. In the US, interest from Treasury debt is free of state and local income tax, and all three hold only Treasury debt, so that's a tie.
Outside the US
These are US-listed funds. In the UK and the EU, most brokers won't sell them to private investors, because the funds don't publish the key information document those rules require. The local version is a UCITS ETF that holds short-term US Treasury bills, or one that holds your own government's bills if you'd rather not take on dollar risk.
If your broker does let you buy them, check how US tax applies to the payouts where you live before you buy.
So which one?
- You want the highest income now: USFR, at 3.99% against 3.76% for the other two.
- You want the lowest fee and the biggest, most traded fund: SGOV, at 0.09% and $116.8bn.
- You expect rates to fall soon: SGOV holds its yield a little longer as rates come down.
- You already own BIL: it's fine. Switching to SGOV saves $4.53 a year on $10,000, so only switch if selling won't trigger a tax bill.
- You'll need the money within a year or two: any of the three. The differences above are small next to the gap between any of them and a stock fund.
Is SGOV or BIL better?
SGOV, by a little. It charges 0.09% against BIL's 0.1353%, holds a similar set of bills, and beat BIL in every calendar year we tested. $10,000 grew to $12,080 in SGOV and $11,987 in BIL from June 2020 to October 2026.
Is USFR better than SGOV?
It earned more in our test, $12,169 against $12,080 on $10,000, and its SEC yield is higher now at 3.99% against 3.76%. It costs more, 0.15% against 0.09%, and its income drops faster when rates fall.
Why does USFR yield more than T-bill ETFs?
It holds floating-rate Treasury notes, which pay the 3-month bill rate plus a small extra amount set when each note is sold. Its interest also resets every week, so when rates rise it catches up faster than a fund holding bills.
Can SGOV, BIL or USFR lose money?
Only a tiny amount, and not for long. In our test, from 1 June 2020 to 2026-10-23, the worst fall from one month-end to the next was under a tenth of a percent, in USFR. Over any full year, all three made money except 2021, when rates were near zero and BIL and USFR slipped a few hundredths of a percent.
SGOV vs a money market fund?
Both hold very short-term, low-risk debt and pay close to the same rate. A money market fund is often the cash option inside your brokerage account and keeps a fixed $1 price. SGOV trades on an exchange like a stock, holds only Treasury bills, and its price drifts up between payouts.
What does the 30-day SEC yield mean?
It's the fund's income over the last 30 days, after its fee, turned into a yearly rate. Every US fund calculates it the same way, so it's the fairest way to compare them. On 22 October 2026: SGOV 3.76%, BIL 3.76%, USFR 3.99%.
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