Which returned more over the last year, ACWI or DFAW?

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ACWI returned +17.2% and DFAW +19.2%.

Which is cheaper, ACWI or DFAW?

DFAW is cheaper, by 0.08 percentage points a year. That is about $8 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do ACWI and DFAW overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 61% of ACWI and 0% of DFAW by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

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ACWI vs DFAW: Differences, Returns & Fees

ACWI and DFAW hold 0% of their weight in the same names, and DFAW returned +19.2% over the year. Net assets: $33.3bn on Oct 9, 2026 for iShares MSCI ACWI ETF, and $1.6bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Dimensional World Equity ETF.

DFAW costs 0.08 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 2.0 points; ACWI is far larger, $32.5bn against $1.6bn.

	ACWI	DFAW
Expense ratio	0.32%	0.24%
Net assets, as of Jul 31, 2026	$32.5bn	$1.6bn
Total return, 1 year	+17.2%	+19.2%
What it tracks	MSCI ACWI	No index, actively managed
Holdings in common	0%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	25.6%	99.9%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 8, 2026.

+17.2%

ACWI total return, 1 year

+19.2%

DFAW total return, 1 year

0.32%

ACWI expense ratio

0.24%

DFAW expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, ACWI and DFAW hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Above 50%, holding both is close to holding one of them twice. Holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 8, 2026.

50%

half

0% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding ACWI DFAW

Only in ACWI

NVIDIA 5.12%

APPLE 4.83%

MICROSOFT 3.56%

AMAZON.COM INC 2.38%

ALPHABET CLASS A 1.97%

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING 1.90%

BROADCOM INC 1.57%

ALPHABET CLASS C 1.56%

Only in DFAW

Dimensional U S Core Equity 2 ETF 53.37%

DFA Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF 18.65%

Dimensional US Core Equity 1 ETF 17.70%

DFA Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF 8.48%

DFA Dimensional Global Real Estate ETF 1.73%

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On the same fields

ACWI

iShares MSCI ACWI ETF

DFAW

Dimensional World Equity ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares Dimensional

What it is Tracks the MSCI ACWI Actively managed

Total return, 1 year +17.2% +19.2%

S&P 500 over the same days +17.3% +17.3%

Gap to the S&P 500 0.0 pts +1.9 pts

Expense ratio 0.32% 0.24%

Already in the S&P 500 60.9% 0.0%

Holdings 2199 5

Net assets, ACWI as of Oct 9, 2026 and DFAW as of Jul 31, 2026 $33.3bn $1.6bn

ACWI and DFAW on the fields both publish, as of Oct 9, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

ACWI in plain words

ACWI tracks the MSCI ACWI. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +17.2% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.32% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 8, 2026, 61% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 2,199 positions, with the top ten at 25.6%.

DFAW in plain words

DFAW is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +19.2% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.24% a year. By its holdings filed for Jul 31, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 5 positions, with the top ten at 99.9%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, ACWI or DFAW?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ACWI returned +17.2% and DFAW +19.2%.
Which is cheaper, ACWI or DFAW?: DFAW is cheaper, by 0.08 percentage points a year. That is about $8 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do ACWI and DFAW overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 61% of ACWI and 0% of DFAW by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

ACWI vs CRBN ACWI vs KLMT ACWI vs SPGM ACWI vs ACWV DFAW vs VT DFAW vs URTH DFAW vs JGLO ACWV vs DFAW

ACWI on its own →DFAW on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →Standards and sources →

Where these figures came from

ACWI filings on SEC EDGAR ↗ACWI prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗iShares page for ACWI ↗DFAW filings on SEC EDGAR ↗DFAW prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗Dimensional website ↗

ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure; a link is not an endorsement. A comparison is not a recommendation.

How this is computed

Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, ACWI against DFAW, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/acwi-vs-dfaw

Open data

Free to use with attribution for figures ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.