Which returned more over the last year, DFAE or EEM?

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAE returned +26.0% and EEM +26.3%.

Which is cheaper, DFAE or EEM?

DFAE is cheaper, by 0.43 percentage points a year. That is about $43 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do DFAE and EEM overlap with the S&P 500?

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

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DFAE vs EEM: Differences, Returns & Fees

DFAE and EEM hold 59% of their weight in the same names. Net assets: $9.5bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Dimensional Emerging Core Equity Market ETF, and $31.0bn on Oct 9, 2026 for iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF.

DFAE costs 0.43 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.3 points; EEM is 3.1 times larger.

	DFAE	EEM
Expense ratio	0.29%	0.72%
Net assets, as of Jul 31, 2026	$9.5bn	$29.2bn
Total return, 1 year	+26.0%	+26.3%
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	MSCI Emerging Markets Index
Holdings in common	59%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	30.5%	38.9%
Below its high	5.0%, high on Jun 22, 2026	6.2%, high on Jun 22, 2026

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

+26.0%

DFAE total return, 1 year

+26.3%

EEM total return, 1 year

0.29%

DFAE expense ratio

0.72%

EEM expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, DFAE and EEM hold 59% 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

59% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding DFAE EEM

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited 13.19% 16.02%

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 5.17% 7.46%

SK hynix Inc. 4.54% 5.65%

Tencent Holdings Limited 2.57% 2.62%

Alibaba Group Holding Limited 1.20% 1.82%

MediaTek Inc. 0.97% 1.73%

HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO., LTD. 0.79% 0.78%

DELTA ELECTRONICS, INC. 0.62% 0.98%

ICICI BANK LIMITED 0.45% 0.60%

BHARTI AIRTEL LIMITED 0.44% 0.43%

XIAOMI CORPORATION 0.41% 0.42%

RELIANCE INDUSTRIES LIMITED 0.40% 0.57%

Only in DFAE

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 0.67%

INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL BANK OF CHINA LIMITED 0.46%

Alibaba Group Holding Limited 0.39%

AL RAJHI BANKING AND INVESTMENT CORPORATION SJSC 0.31%

HDFC BANK LIMITED 0.31%

VALE S.A. 0.29%

ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. 0.24%

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) 0.23%

Only in EEM

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS NON VOTING PRE 0.95%

CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK CORP H 0.84%

SK SQUARE 0.59%

INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL BANK OF 0.51%

ITAU UNIBANCO HOLDING PREF SA 0.43%

UNITED MICRO ELECTRONICS CORP 0.43%

BANK OF CHINA LTD H 0.42%

PETROLEO BRASILEIRO PREF SA 0.41%

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On the same fields

DFAE

Dimensional Emerging Core Equity Market ETF

EEM

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer Dimensional iShares

What it is Actively managed Tracks an index of Emerging markets

Total return, 1 year +26.0% +26.3%

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

Gap to the S&P 500 +8.8 pts +9.0 pts

Expense ratio 0.29% 0.72%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 0.0%

Holdings 6272 1188

Net assets, DFAE as of Jul 31, 2026 and EEM as of Oct 9, 2026 $9.5bn $31.0bn

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

DFAE in plain words

DFAE is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +26.0% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.29% 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 6,272 positions, with the top ten at 30.5%. It sat 5.0% below its high of Jun 22, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

EEM in plain words

EEM tracks an index of Emerging markets. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +26.3% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.72% 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 1,188 positions, with the top ten at 38.9%. It sat 6.2% below its high of Jun 22, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, DFAE or EEM?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAE returned +26.0% and EEM +26.3%.
Which is cheaper, DFAE or EEM?: DFAE is cheaper, by 0.43 percentage points a year. That is about $43 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do DFAE and EEM overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of DFAE and 0% of EEM by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

DFAE vs EMXC DFAE vs SPEM DFAE vs SCHE DFAE vs FNDE EEM vs FNDE DFEM vs EEM EEM vs SCHE EEM vs EMXC

DFAE on its own →EEM on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →Standards and sources →

Where these figures came from

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

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, DFAE against EEM, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dfae-vs-eem

Open data

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