What Are Fidelity Zero Funds?
What does a 0% expense ratio actually cost you? Nothing, and that’s the whole point. Most index fund investments lose a portion of their gains to fees every year, usually a few hundredths of a percent. The Fidelity Zero lineup drops that to nothing. The four funds (FNILX, FZIPX, FZROX, and FZILX) carry a 0% expense ratio with no minimum investment, and they’re available to retail investors only through a Fidelity account.1
So what do you actually keep? Every dollar these investments earn, minus taxes, will stay in your account and keep compounding. We’ve broken down the rest of these low cost investments in our guide to the best Fidelity index funds to own for life, but the Zero funds are in a tier of their own. A price of zero always has a story behind it though, and these Fidelity funds are no exception.
Meet the Four Fidelity Funds
Four funds, four slices of the market. Each one tracks a different proprietary Fidelity index, and each holds its own basket of securities. Here’s what you’ll find inside.
This is the lineup at a glance, sorted biggest to smallest by assets under management:
| Fund | What it tracks (and resembles) | Net assets | 5-Yr average annual return | Holdings |
| FZROX (ZERO Total Market) | The entire U.S. stock market: large, mid, and small cap. Acts like VTSAX or FSKAX. | ~$38.6B (largest) | 13.12% | 2,668 |
| FNILX (ZERO Large Cap) | The biggest U.S. companies. A stand-in for the S&P 500. | ~$18.6B | 13.92% | 506 |
| FZILX (ZERO International) | Developed and emerging markets outside the U.S. | ~$11.6B | 9.28% | 2,239 |
| FZIPX (ZERO Extended Market) | U.S. mid- and small-caps, the market minus the ~500 largest names. | ~$2.5B (smallest) | 7.68% | 2,086 |
Every fund here charges a 0.00% expense ratio with no minimum. Net assets, holdings counts, and 1-year average annual returns are as of May 31, 2026, per each fund’s Fidelity page.
FZROX: The Total Market Index Fund
FZROX is the total market index fund of the group. It tracks Fidelity’s proprietary U.S. total-market benchmark and holds roughly 2,700 stocks, thousands of underlying securities across large, mid, and small caps.2 Picture the entire U.S. stock market squeezed into a single ticker, the same job a fund like VTSAX or FSKAX does. It’s also the largest of the four ZERO funds by a wide margin, with about $38.6 billion in net assets as of May 31, 2026, a subtle signal indicating that when investors buy just one, this is usually the one they pick.
As of May 2026, the top holdings are a roll call of American business: NVIDIA near 7% of assets, Apple around 6.2%, then Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet. One share buys a sliver of nearly the entire U.S. equity market. For plenty of investors, this one total market index fund is the whole stock sleeve of their portfolio. Its total assets keep climbing as money flows in. The fund pays dividends once a year, and the investments inside it change only when the index does.
FNILX: The Zero Large Cap Index Fund
FNILX is the large cap index fund, the closest thing here to an S&P 500 substitute. It tracks the Fidelity U.S. Large Cap Index, a proprietary benchmark of the biggest U.S. companies, much like the S&P 500 without licensing that name. On size, it is second only to FZROX, holding roughly $18.6 billion in assets, the most popular ZERO fund after the total-market pick.
This large cap index fund holds the same mega-cap securities that dominate FZROX, minus the mid and small caps. Want broad blue-chip exposure at a true zero cost? The Zero Large Cap Index Fund (FNILX) delivers exactly that. For a side-by-side with the usual names, see our roundup of the best S&P 500 index funds. Plenty of investors park their core equity investments in this large cap index fund and never look back.
FZILX: The International Index Fund
FZILX is the international index fund of the lineup, holding securities from developed and emerging markets outside the US. Treat it as a one-ticker way to own the rest of the world’s stock market, from Europe and Japan through to emerging names across Asia and Latin America. By assets it’s the third-largest of the four at about $11.6 billion, the biggest ZERO fund that invests beyond U.S. borders.
Add it to the two domestic funds and you’ve got global coverage for a grand total of zero in fund costs. International returns have trailed U.S. stocks for years, but spreading your assets worldwide cuts single-country risk. Want the full case for owning foreign equities? Here’s our take on the best international funds for global exposure. This international index fund is the simplest way to get that exposure inside Fidelity.
FZIPX: The Extended Market Index Fund
FZIPX is the extended market index fund, covering the part FNILX skips: the mid- and small-cap companies outside the largest names. Pair it with FNILX and you rebuild something close to FZROX’s total-market exposure across two funds. The extended market index fund tracks the Fidelity U.S. Extended Investable Market Index, the smaller and faster-moving slice of the market. That’s where tomorrow’s large caps hide today, and where these investments add a little growth. It’s also the smallest of the four by assets, around $2.5 billion, which fits its job: most investors bolt FZIPX on for completeness rather than build a portfolio around it.
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How a Zero Expense Ratio Index Fund Works
A zero expense ratio index fund sounds like a typo. How does any firm run one for free? Fidelity isn’t doing charity here. It’s running a loss leader, plain and simple.
Here’s the mechanism. A traditional fund passes its operating expenses to you through an expense ratio: the management fees, the record-keeping expenses, the licensing. Fidelity eats those expenses on the Zero funds instead. The net expense ratio ends up at 0.00% because Fidelity built its own proprietary indexes rather than licensing the S&P or CRSP benchmarks, which erases the biggest cost and slashes what you’d normally pay. To track thousands of securities cheaply, the funds lean on statistical sampling, holding a representative chunk of the equity market instead of every single name the index data lists.
So why give it away? Assets. Once your money sits at Fidelity, the firm earns on your idle cash balances, on securities lending, and on the other products you’ll probably buy down the line. The free funds are the front door. New to this style of investing? Our primer on index fund investing for beginners walks through how passive investments track an index in the first place. No management fee here, and Fidelity still comes out ahead.
How Fidelity Zero Mutual Funds Compare to Traditional Mutual Funds
How do these Fidelity zero mutual funds stack up against a traditional index fund like Fidelity’s own FSKAX? Very close as a matter of fact, with one real edge and a couple of trade-offs. Both price once a day after the close, unlike ETFs you trade live (here’s how mutual funds compare to ETFs if that line is fuzzy). The Zero funds win on cost. Traditional funds win on a longer track record, broad availability, and the freedom to move the investments between brokers.
FZROX vs FSKAX: Holdings and Returns
Take FZROX against FSKAX, Fidelity’s traditional total-market fund. FSKAX charges a 0.015% net expense ratio, about $1.50 a year per $10,000, and holds more individual securities than FZROX while tracking the Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index.3 That’s roughly 3,700-plus names against FZROX’s 2,700. Their performance tracks almost step for step, since the largest companies drive most of the performance and both own them. Compare the fund total returns adjusted for that tiny fee gap and FZROX edges ahead by a hair. The dividend yield and annual distribution end up very close too. Set the holdings data and performance data side by side and the value is plain: near-identical exposure for less cost. FSKAX carries far larger total assets, yet size doesn’t change the investments you own.
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What the Morningstar Rating Means
Morningstar gives FZROX a 3-star overall rating in the large blend category as of May 31, 2026, with a stronger 4-star mark over the trailing three years.4 So what does that score actually measure? Past risk-adjusted returns, and nothing about the future. Morningstar scores every fund in a category on the same bell curve, weighing how each one’s returns held up against its peers after accounting for the volatility it took on to get them.
Three stars puts FZROX in the broad middle of the large-blend pack, about what you’d expect from a fund that owns the entire market instead of chasing a manager’s best ideas. One caveat, stated plainly: past performance is no guarantee of future results, and a star count reflects history, not a forecast. Index funds carry market risks, and three stars won’t shield the fund from a downturn. Unlike actively managed funds riding a manager’s calls, FZROX simply owns the market and lets the long-run results speak.
The Catch: Why Zero Funds Stay at Fidelity
Now the catch, a real one. Those proprietary indexes are the same thing that locks you in. No other broker can hold FZROX, FNILX, FZIPX, or FZILX, so you can’t move these securities in kind like a Vanguard or Schwab fund. Switching firms means selling first.
Inside a retirement account, that’s just a shrug. Sell within a Roth IRA or Traditional IRA and you owe nothing, the cash simply moves with you. In a taxable brokerage account, though, a sale is a taxable event. When you sell for more than you paid, the gain is taxable, taxed at long-term capital gains rates if you held it longer than a year.5 (Here’s the current breakdown of capital gains tax rates.)
So the lock-in shapes your investment decision around where you hold the Fidelity ZERO lineup. In a taxable brokerage account, these funds are harder to unwind because they can’t be transferred to another broker in kind. If you decide to leave Fidelity, you’ll generally need to sell your shares first, potentially triggering capital gains taxes on any appreciation. The real trade-off isn’t investment performance, but portability. That limitation doesn’t matter if you plan to stay at Fidelity for decades, but it can become expensive if you decide to switch brokers later.
Read the prospectus before buying, so the distribution rules, the yield, and the value of what you hold are clear up front. We keep a list of investments to avoid in a taxable account, and this trade-off rhymes with several of them. New to these accounts? Start with what a taxable brokerage account is. These investments are fine to own. The one real constraint is your freedom to move the assets later, and it bites only in a taxable account.
» Ready to invest for retirement? Check out our review on the top IRA accounts
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Who Should Buy Fidelity Zero Funds?
So who are these for? Two clean answers.
If you’re building a long-term portfolio inside a Fidelity IRA and you plan to stay, the Fidelity Zero funds are close to a no-brainer. Zero cost, broad market exposure, and a holding you’ll likely never sell before retirement, so the lock-in never bites. Set up automatic investing and let these investments compound while you forget the account exists. The concentration risks here match any total-market fund, nothing exotic.
The taxable-account crowd should think twice. If you chase the best platform deals or expect to switch brokers, the portability risks tip the math toward other funds. A Vanguard or iShares fund moves its securities in kind, Zero funds do not. Do your own research on the data, the prospectus, the dividend yield, and the long-term performance before committing taxable money, because the downside risks of stranded investments are real. Even strong investments carry relocation risks when you can’t move them.
For most buy-and-hold investors who’ve already chosen Fidelity, the call is easy. Keep more of your returns, accept that the cash and the assets stay put, and let compounding run its course. Still shopping platforms? Our guide to the best brokerage accounts for portability is a solid next stop, with the performance data to back its picks. These investments are excellent. The only open question is whether you’re staying.
Should You Lock In With Fidelity?
Bottom line: the Fidelity Zero lineup does exactly what it promises. Four index mutual funds, a true 0% expense ratio, no minimums, and real total-market and international coverage. For money you’re keeping at Fidelity for the long haul, especially inside a tax-advantaged account like an IRA or HSA, they’re among the cheapest investments for owning the market.
Before you buy, run a short checklist. Confirm the account is the right home: an IRA for set-and-forget, a taxable account only if you’re sure you’ll stay. Decide whether one total market index fund like FZROX covers you, or whether the FNILX, FZIPX, and FZILX trio gives finer control. Check the prospectus, the current holdings, the dividend yield, and the distribution schedule on Fidelity’s product page, since those securities and payouts change over time. Then weigh these investments against the rest of your portfolio so you don’t double up on the same large caps and skew the value tilt.
The appeal is simple. You keep what you’d otherwise hand over in fees, and across a few decades of investing it adds up. Go in clear-eyed: these Fidelity funds are built to keep you at Fidelity, so decide whether that’s a deal you’re glad to make. The long-run performance has matched its traditional rivals, and the price beats them outright.
