---
title: "Benchmark"
description: "A benchmark is the index a fund is measured against: tracked by index funds and ETFs, or used by active funds as a target or reference for relative performance."
canonical: https://fundfactsapi.com/glossary/benchmark
published: 2026-09-04
updated: 2026-09-04
publisher: FundFacts API
---

# Benchmark (Benchmark index, Reference index, Comparator index)

> A benchmark is the index a fund is measured against: tracked by index funds and ETFs, or used by active funds as a target or reference for relative performance.

## Definition

A **benchmark** is a published index, such as MSCI World, S&P 500 or Bloomberg Global Aggregate, that a fund uses to define or judge its performance. For an [index fund](https://fundfactsapi.com/glossary/index-fund) the benchmark is the thing being replicated. For an [active fund](https://fundfactsapi.com/glossary/active-fund) it is a yardstick: the manager tries to beat it, stay within a risk budget around it, or simply uses it for comparison. UCITS documents must state whether the fund is managed with reference to a benchmark and, if so, show the benchmark's past performance next to the fund's.

## Why it matters

Absolute returns tell you little without context. A 12% year is strong if the benchmark made 8% and weak if it made 20%. Benchmark data is also the basis of [tracking difference](https://fundfactsapi.com/glossary/tracking-difference) and [tracking error](https://fundfactsapi.com/glossary/tracking-error) for index products, and of excess return and information ratio for active ones.

## In the API

The benchmark's name is in `benchmarkName`. Calendar-year returns for both fund and benchmark are aligned in `calendarReturns`. Example values:

```json
{
  "benchmarkName": "MSCI World Index (Net Return, USD)",
  "calendarReturns": {
    "years": [2023, 2024, 2025],
    "fund": [23.6, 18.9, 11.2],
    "benchmark": [23.8, 19.1, 11.4]
  }
}
```

## Common pitfalls

Index variants matter: price return, gross total return and net total return versions of the same index differ by the dividend treatment, and UCITS ETFs are normally compared with the net return version. Benchmark currency may differ from the share class currency. Some funds change benchmark over time, so historical comparisons should use the benchmark in force for each year.

## In the FundFacts API payload

- `benchmarkName`
- `calendarReturns.benchmark`
- `calendarReturns.fund`

## About FundFacts API

FundFacts turns any fund or ETF ISIN into one dated factsheet (fees and KID costs, the 1–7 risk indicator, holdings, sector and country exposure, returns) read from the fund house's own documents: as a client-ready PDF under your firm's name for advisers and wealth managers, as JSON through its API for developers, or inside ChatGPT and Claude through its MCP server.

FundFacts works inside ChatGPT and Claude as a connector (a remote MCP server): ask about any fund or ETF by ISIN, ticker or name and the assistant answers from FundFacts' dated figures, fees, risk, holdings, exposure and returns, with fund cards, side-by-side comparisons, holdings overlap and portfolio look-through.

- Free API key, no card: https://fundfactsapi.com/signup
- Documentation: https://fundfactsapi.com/docs (OpenAPI: https://fundfactsapi.com/openapi.json)
- MCP server: https://fundfactsapi.com/api/mcp (set-up for every client: https://fundfactsapi.com/mcp-server)
- Pricing: https://fundfactsapi.com/pricing
- Site index for AI assistants: https://fundfactsapi.com/llms.txt
- Informational data, not investment advice.