Two dividend-grower ETFs with the same headline goal — own companies that reliably raise their payouts — and two very different rulebooks for deciding what "reliably" means.
Last reviewed on April 24, 2026
| Metric | NOBL | VIG | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF | Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF | Different issuers, different indices |
| Dividend Yield | 2.15% | 1.85% | NOBL edges higher |
| Expense Ratio | 0.35% | 0.05% | 7× cheaper to hold VIG |
| Dividend-growth screen | 25+ consecutive years | 10+ consecutive years | NOBL is stricter |
| Number of holdings | ~65-70 | ~330-340 | VIG spreads risk wider |
| Weighting method | Equal-weight | Market-cap weighted | Drives sector tilt |
| Distribution Frequency | Quarterly | Quarterly | Tie |
| Inception Year | 2013 | 2006 | VIG has the longer live record |
Figures are reviewed periodically and may lag the issuer's current fact sheet.
Investors who care more about the quality of the streak than the cost of owning it, and who prefer a concentrated list of stalwart dividend payers.
Long-horizon buy-and-hold investors who want dividend-grower exposure at rock-bottom cost and don't mind the 10-year screen being less strict than NOBL's.
On paper these funds are close cousins. In practice, the 25-year threshold in NOBL's index removes hundreds of otherwise-solid growers — including newer tech franchises that may have only been paying (and raising) for a decade. That explains both NOBL's smaller holding count and its slightly higher yield: the filter favours older, more mature businesses in sectors like consumer staples, industrials, and healthcare.
VIG's 10-year threshold keeps a much larger universe in play. When that universe is then weighted by market cap, the biggest dividend growers carry the most influence. The result is a broader, tech-friendlier portfolio with a lower headline yield but a much lower fee.
Another subtle but important difference: NOBL's equal-weight construction means each aristocrat is rebalanced back to roughly the same weight on schedule. That ties the performance profile more closely to smaller dividend payers within the aristocrat set and further away from the S&P 500's biggest names.
NOBL's 0.35% expense ratio is 30 basis points higher than VIG's 0.05%. Over a long holding period that compounds into real money. On a $50,000 position held for 20 years, the difference is roughly $3,000 in fees — not catastrophic, but not trivial either.
Whether the fee gap is justified depends on how much value you place on NOBL's stricter screen and equal-weight construction. If the 25-year aristocrat requirement is the reason you're buying the fund in the first place, the fee is the price of the screen. If you'd be happy with a broader dividend-grower sleeve, VIG is hard to argue with on cost.
Choose NOBL if: You want a concentrated, equal-weighted slice of the longest-tenured dividend growers in the S&P 500, and you're willing to pay 0.35% for that specific screen.
Choose VIG if: You want broad, cheap exposure to U.S. dividend growers, a longer live track record, and a portfolio that reflects the market-cap shape of the dividend-growth universe. At 0.05% it's one of the cheapest ways to express this style.
Use both? Some investors pair them: VIG as the cheap, broad core and NOBL as a satellite tilt toward the most-tenured aristocrats. They overlap substantially, so own both with eyes open — the incremental diversification benefit shrinks at higher weightings.