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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ACWI returned +13.4% and VEA +17.1%.

Which is cheaper, ACWI or VEA?

VEA is cheaper, by 0.29 percentage points a year. That is about $29 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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

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

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

ACWI vs VEA: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, ACWI returned +13.4% to VEA's +17.1%; 25% of their weight is in the same names.

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Net assets: $33.0bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares MSCI ACWI ETF, and $231.6bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF.

ACWI on its own →VEA on its own →

At a glance

+13.4%

ACWI total return, 1 year

+17.1%

VEA total return, 1 year

0.32%

ACWI expense ratio

0.03%

VEA expense ratio

Pair scorecard

VEA costs 0.29 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 3.7 points; VEA is 7.1 times larger.

ACWI vs VEA: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	ACWI	VEA
Return
Measure	ACWI	VEA
Total return, 1 year	+13.4%	+17.1%
Drawdown
Measure	ACWI	VEA
Below its high		4.4%, high on Aug 25, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	ACWI	VEA
What it tracks	MSCI ACWI	FTSE Developed All Cap ex US Index
Cost and size
Measure	ACWI	VEA
Expense ratio	0.32%	0.03%
Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026	$32.8bn	$231.6bn
Holdings
Measure	ACWI	VEA
Holdings in common	25%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	24.9%	13.6%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method

Risk and return

Apr 4, 2008 to Oct 23, 2026 · 968 weekly returns

ACWI VEA

Return

Total return edge ACWI +333.1% +162.5%

Annualized edge ACWI +8.2% +5.3%

Price return edge ACWI +204.7% +50.6%

Risk

Volatility edge ACWI (slight) 18.5% 19.5%

Max drawdown edge ACWI (slight) −55.3% −57.1%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge ACWI 0.44 0.29

Sortino edge ACWI 0.62 0.40

Calmar edge ACWI 0.15 0.09

Reading

ACWI returned more: +333.1% to +162.5%. ACWI swung slightly less: 18.5% to 19.5%. ACWI fell slightly less at its worst: −55.3% to −57.1%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: ACWI vs VEA: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	ACWI	VEA	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	+333.1%	+162.5%	ACWI	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	+8.2%	+5.3%	ACWI	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	+204.7%	+50.6%	ACWI	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	18.5%	19.5%	ACWI (slight)	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	13.2%	14.2%	ACWI (slight)	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−55.3%	−57.1%	ACWI (slight)	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	0.44	0.29	ACWI	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	0.62	0.40	ACWI	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	0.15	0.09	ACWI	Annualized return divided by the max drawdown.

Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 968 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.

What they share

25%

By the books each fund has filed, ACWI and VEA hold 25% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.

50%

0 half 100%

half

25% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first ACWI VEA

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS LTD 0.76% 2.81%

ASML HOLDING 0.62% 2.14%

SK HYNIX 0.55% 2.30%

ROCHE PS PAR AG 0.33% 0.91%

SHELL 0.30% 0.86%

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC 0.29% 1.05%

NOVARTIS AG 0.28% 0.82%

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA 0.27% 0.85%

ASTRAZENECA PLC 0.25% 0.75%

NESTLE SA 0.25% 0.72%

SAP 0.23% 0.63%

MITSUBISHI UFJ FINANCIAL GROUP 0.22% 0.78%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in ACWI

APPLE 4.97%

NVIDIA 4.89%

MICROSOFT 3.66%

AMAZON.COM INC 2.39%

ALPHABET CLASS A 1.83%

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING 1.77%

BROADCOM INC 1.51%

ALPHABET CLASS C 1.44%

Only in VEA

SLBBH1142 1.07%

Novo Nordisk A/S 0.37%

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS-PREF 0.35%

Investor AB 0.23%

Muenchener Rueckversicherungs-Gesellschaft AG in Muenchen 0.22%

Air Liquide SA 0.22%

Nordea Bank Abp 0.20%

Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd 0.18%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

ACWI iShares MSCI ACWI ETF VEA Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares Vanguard

What it is Tracks the MSCI ACWI Tracks an index of Developed markets ex US

Total return, 1 year +13.4% +17.1%

Expense ratio 0.32% 0.03%

Already in the S&P 500 60.9% 0.0%

Holdings 2197 3906

Net assets, ACWI as of Oct 28, 2026 and VEA as of Sep 30, 2026 $33.0bn $231.6bn

ACWI and VEA on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-A7F6BEB26B

ACWI and VEA do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?

What each follows. ACWI follows MSCI ACWI and VEA follows FTSE Developed All Cap ex US Index.
Holdings in common. 25% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Sep 30, 2026).
One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 ACWI returned +13.4% and VEA +17.1% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 3.7 points.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

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About each fund

ACWI

ACWI tracks the MSCI ACWI. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.4% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.32% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 61% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 2,197 positions, with the top ten at 24.9%.

VEA

VEA tracks an index of Developed markets ex US. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +17.1% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 3,906 positions, with the top ten at 13.6%. It sat 4.4% below its high of Aug 25, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, ACWI or VEA?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ACWI returned +13.4% and VEA +17.1%.
Which is cheaper, ACWI or VEA?: VEA is cheaper, by 0.29 percentage points a year. That is about $29 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do ACWI and VEA overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 61% of ACWI and 0% of VEA by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

ACWI vs IEFA ACWI vs VXUS ACWI vs SCHF ACWI vs IDEV VEA vs VT URTH vs VEA IDEV vs VEA VEA vs VGK

Where to next

ACWI on its own →VEA on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →ACWI dividend history →ACWI holdings →VEA dividend history →VEA holdings →Standards and sources →

Sources and dates

ACWI filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

ACWI prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for ACWI ↗

VEA filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

VEA prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

Vanguard page for VEA ↗

Links are sources, not endorsements. 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 VEA, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/acwi-vs-vea

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