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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ACWI returned +13.4% and VXUS +13.8%.

Which is cheaper, ACWI or VXUS?

VXUS is cheaper, by 0.27 percentage points a year. That is about $27 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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

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

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

ACWI vs VXUS: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, ACWI returned +13.4% to VXUS's +13.8%; 31% 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 $163.2bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Total International Stock ETF.

ACWI on its own →VXUS on its own →

At a glance

+13.4%

ACWI total return, 1 year

+13.8%

VXUS total return, 1 year

0.32%

ACWI expense ratio

0.05%

VXUS expense ratio

Pair scorecard

VXUS costs 0.27 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.4 points; VXUS is 5.0 times larger.

ACWI vs VXUS: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	ACWI	VXUS
Return
Measure	ACWI	VXUS
Total return, 1 year	+13.4%	+13.8%
Drawdown
Measure	ACWI	VXUS
Below its high		5.1%, high on Sep 4, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	ACWI	VXUS
What it tracks	MSCI ACWI	FTSE Global All Cap ex US Index
Cost and size
Measure	ACWI	VXUS
Expense ratio	0.32%	0.05%
Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026	$32.8bn	$163.2bn
Holdings
Measure	ACWI	VXUS
Holdings in common	31%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	24.9%	14.6%

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

Risk and return

Feb 4, 2011 to Oct 23, 2026 · 820 weekly returns

ACWI VXUS

Return

Total return edge ACWI +344.4% +158.2%

Annualized edge ACWI +9.9% +6.2%

Price return edge ACWI +225.2% +62.6%

Risk

Volatility edge ACWI (slight) 16.0% 16.5%

Max drawdown edge ACWI (slight) −32.1% −34.6%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge ACWI 0.57 0.35

Sortino edge ACWI 0.81 0.49

Calmar edge ACWI 0.31 0.18

Reading

ACWI returned more: +344.4% to +158.2%. ACWI swung slightly less: 16.0% to 16.5%. ACWI fell slightly less at its worst: −32.1% to −34.6%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: ACWI vs VXUS: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	ACWI	VXUS	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	+344.4%	+158.2%	ACWI	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	+9.9%	+6.2%	ACWI	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	+225.2%	+62.6%	ACWI	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	16.0%	16.5%	ACWI (slight)	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	11.2%	11.8%	ACWI (slight)	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−32.1%	−34.6%	ACWI (slight)	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	0.57	0.35	ACWI	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	0.81	0.49	ACWI	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	0.31	0.18	ACWI	Annualized return divided by the max drawdown.

Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 820 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.

What they share

31%

By the books each fund has filed, ACWI and VXUS hold 31% 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

31% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first ACWI VXUS

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING 1.77% 4.27%

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS LTD 0.76% 2.03%

ASML HOLDING 0.62% 1.55%

SK HYNIX 0.55% 1.67%

ROCHE PS PAR AG 0.33% 0.66%

SHELL 0.30% 0.62%

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC 0.29% 0.76%

TENCENT HOLDINGS 0.29% 0.76%

NOVARTIS AG 0.28% 0.60%

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA 0.27% 0.62%

ASTRAZENECA PLC 0.25% 0.54%

NESTLE SA 0.25% 0.52%

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%

BROADCOM INC 1.51%

ALPHABET CLASS C 1.44%

META PLATFORMS CLASS A 1.33%

Only in VXUS

SLCMT1142 1.66%

MKTLIQ 0.59%

Novo Nordisk A/S 0.27%

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS-PREF 0.26%

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd 0.18%

BHP Group Ltd 0.17%

Air Liquide SA 0.17%

Muenchener Rueckversicherungs-Gesellschaft AG in Muenchen 0.16%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

ACWI iShares MSCI ACWI ETF VXUS Vanguard Total International Stock ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares Vanguard

What it is Tracks the MSCI ACWI Tracks an index of Total International Stock

Total return, 1 year +13.4% +13.8%

Expense ratio 0.32% 0.05%

Already in the S&P 500 60.9% 0.0%

Holdings 2197 8913

Net assets, ACWI as of Oct 28, 2026 and VXUS as of Sep 30, 2026 $33.0bn $163.2bn

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

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-02680A93BA

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

What each follows. ACWI follows MSCI ACWI and VXUS follows FTSE Global All Cap ex US Index.
Holdings in common. 31% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Sep 30, 2026).
Number of holdings. ACWI holds 2,197 positions and VXUS holds 8913.

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%.

VXUS

VXUS tracks an index of Total International Stock. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.8% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.05% 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 8,913 positions, with the top ten at 14.6%. It sat 5.1% below its high of Sep 4, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, ACWI or VXUS?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ACWI returned +13.4% and VXUS +13.8%.
Which is cheaper, ACWI or VXUS?: VXUS is cheaper, by 0.27 percentage points a year. That is about $27 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do ACWI and VXUS overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 61% of ACWI and 0% of VXUS by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

ACWI vs IEFA ACWI vs VEA ACWI vs EFA ACWI vs VEU VT vs VXUS URTH vs VXUS IDEV vs VXUS VGK vs VXUS

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

ACWI filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

ACWI prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for ACWI ↗

VXUS filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

VXUS prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

Vanguard page for VXUS ↗

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 VXUS, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/acwi-vs-vxus

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