Which returned more over the last year, ACWX or DFAI?

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ACWX returned +18.2% and DFAI +16.3%.

Which is cheaper, ACWX or DFAI?

DFAI is cheaper, by 0.14 percentage points a year. That is about $14 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do ACWX and DFAI overlap with the S&P 500?

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

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ACWX vs DFAI: Differences, Returns & Fees

ACWX and DFAI hold 46% of their weight in the same names, and ACWX returned +18.2% over the year. Net assets: $17.6bn on Oct 9, 2026 for iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF, and $17.5bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF.

DFAI costs 0.14 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 1.9 points; DFAI is 1.5 times larger.

	ACWX	DFAI
Expense ratio	0.32%	0.18%
Net assets, as of Jul 31, 2026	$11.5bn	$17.5bn
Total return, 1 year	+18.2%	+16.3%
What it tracks	MSCI ACWI ex USA Index	No index, actively managed
Holdings in common	46%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	16.6%	9.2%
Below its high	3.9%, high on Sep 4, 2026	4.7%, high on Aug 25, 2026

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

+18.2%

ACWX total return, 1 year

+16.3%

DFAI total return, 1 year

0.32%

ACWX expense ratio

0.18%

DFAI expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, ACWX and DFAI hold 46% 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

46% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding ACWX DFAI

ASML HOLDING 1.95% 1.63%

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC 0.86% 1.16%

SHELL 0.80% 1.01%

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA 0.73% 0.68%

NOVARTIS AG 0.71% 0.67%

MITSUBISHI UFJ FINANCIAL GROUP 0.66% 0.76%

ASTRAZENECA PLC 0.65% 0.81%

NESTLE SA 0.65% 0.84%

BHP GROUP LTD 0.60% 0.59%

ADVANTEST 0.52% 0.54%

TOYOTA MOTOR 0.48% 0.63%

ALLIANZ 0.47% 0.59%

Only in ACWX

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING 5.41%

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS LTD 2.52%

SK HYNIX 1.91%

TENCENT HOLDINGS 0.89%

ROCHE PS PAR AG 0.82%

ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING 0.62%

MEDIATEK 0.60%

SIEMENS N AG 0.60%

Only in DFAI

Siemens Aktiengesellschaft 0.58%

BP P.L.C. 0.51%

THE TORONTO-DOMINION BANK 0.49%

LVMH MOET HENNESSY LOUIS VUITTON SE 0.48%

NOVO NORDISK A/S 0.47%

UNICREDIT, SOCIETA PER AZIONI 0.47%

Deutsche Telekom AG 0.44%

ASML Holding N.V. 0.42%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

ACWX

iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF

DFAI

Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares Dimensional

What it is Tracks the MSCI ACWI ex U.S. Actively managed

Total return, 1 year +18.2% +16.3%

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

Gap to the S&P 500 +1.0 pts −1.0 pts

Expense ratio 0.32% 0.18%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 0.0%

Holdings 1908 3769

Net assets, ACWX as of Oct 9, 2026 and DFAI as of Jul 31, 2026 $17.6bn $17.5bn

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

ACWX in plain words

ACWX tracks the MSCI ACWI ex U.S.. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +18.2% 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, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 1,908 positions, with the top ten at 16.6%. It sat 3.9% below its high of Sep 4, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

DFAI in plain words

DFAI is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +16.3% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.18% 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 3,769 positions, with the top ten at 9.2%. It sat 4.7% below its high of Aug 25, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, ACWX or DFAI?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ACWX returned +18.2% and DFAI +16.3%.
Which is cheaper, ACWX or DFAI?: DFAI is cheaper, by 0.14 percentage points a year. That is about $14 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do ACWX and DFAI overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of ACWX and 0% of DFAI by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

ACWX vs IEFA ACWX vs VEA ACWX vs DFIC ACWX vs IQLT DFAI vs DFIC DFAI vs IQLT DFAI vs DFAX DFAI vs ESGD

ACWX on its own →DFAI on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →Standards and sources →

Where these figures came from

ACWX filings on SEC EDGAR ↗ACWX prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗iShares page for ACWX ↗DFAI filings on SEC EDGAR ↗DFAI 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, ACWX against DFAI, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/acwx-vs-dfai

Open data

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