See exactly what ETF fees cost you over a lifetime of investing.
A 0.20% expense ratio vs a 0.95% one sounds tiny. Over 30 years it can quietly eat a six-figure chunk of your portfolio. Our calculators turn that abstraction into a concrete number — in under a minute.
Free tools
Each tool gives a direct answer first, shows its assumptions openly, and links to the underlying math. Everything runs in your browser — nothing is sent to a server.
📊 ETF Fee Drag Calculator
Compare two funds with different expense ratios and see the exact dollar gap at year 10, 20 and 30 — contributions included.
Open calculator →⏳ DCA vs Lump Sum
Dollar-cost averaging feels safer. Find out what spreading your entry over 3–24 months actually costs (or saves) under your assumptions.
Open calculator →📉 Drawdown Recovery Calculator
A 50% loss needs a 100% gain. See the exact break-even gain for any drawdown — and how monthly contributions compress the recovery clock.
Open calculator →🥊 TradingView vs Alternatives
A structured, no-hype comparison of the four major charting platforms — pricing, screening, alerts, and who each one is not for.
See comparison →Why fees are the one variable you fully control
You can't predict markets. You can pick a 0.03% fund over a 0.95% one.
Active funds and high-fee ETFs must overcome their own costs every single year, before you make a dollar. Most don't. The math tool on this site doesn't require a forecast — just two fee numbers and a time horizon.
Built by a quant, not a content farm
ETF Fee Lab is maintained by an independent developer who builds and runs systematic ETF strategies. The calculators use the same fee-drag and cash-flow math he uses to vet his own fund selection — nothing more exotic than that, and nothing hidden.