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

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAI returned +16.3% and DFAX +20.9%.

Which is cheaper, DFAI or DFAX?

DFAI is cheaper, by 0.10 percentage points a year. That is about $10 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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

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

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DFAI vs DFAX: Differences, Returns & Fees

DFAI and DFAX hold 55% of their weight in the same names, and DFAX returned +20.9% over the year. Net assets on Jul 31, 2026: $17.5bn for Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF and $12.0bn for Dimensional World ex U.S. Core Equity 2 ETF.

DFAI costs 0.10 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 4.6 points; DFAI is 1.5 times larger.

	DFAI	DFAX
Expense ratio	0.18%	0.28%
Net assets, as of Jul 31, 2026	$17.5bn	$12.0bn
Total return, 1 year	+16.3%	+20.9%
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	No index, actively managed
Holdings in common	55%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	9.2%	8.2%
Below its high	4.7%, high on Aug 25, 2026	3.4%, high on Sep 4, 2026

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jul 31, 2026.

+16.3%

DFAI total return, 1 year

+20.9%

DFAX total return, 1 year

0.18%

DFAI expense ratio

0.28%

DFAX expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, DFAI and DFAX hold 55% 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.

50%

half

55% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding DFAI DFAX

Novartis AG 0.67% 0.67%

ASML Holding N.V. 1.63% 0.62%

TOTALENERGIES SE 0.62% 0.54%

Nestle S.A. 0.84% 0.40%

Roche Holding AG 1.05% 0.39%

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION 0.63% 0.38%

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA 0.68% 0.36%

Fujikura Ltd. 0.31% 0.31%

Allianz SE 0.59% 0.30%

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. 0.76% 0.27%

ADVANTEST CORPORATION 0.54% 0.26%

Deutsche Telekom AG 0.44% 0.26%

Only in DFAI

TC Energy Corporation 0.05%

WASTE CONNECTIONS, INC. 0.04%

Nutrien Ltd. 0.04%

Alcon AG 0.03%

WEIR GROUP PLC(THE) 0.03%

Nokia Oyj 0.03%

CAMECO CORPORATION 0.02%

CANON INC. 0.01%

Only in DFAX

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited 1.86%

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 1.34%

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited 0.99%

SK hynix Inc. 0.81%

Tencent Holdings Limited 0.49%

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 0.29%

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC 0.28%

BP P.L.C. 0.25%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

DFAI

Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF

DFAX

Dimensional World ex U.S. Core Equity 2 ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer Dimensional Dimensional

What it is Actively managed Actively managed

Total return, 1 year +16.3% +20.9%

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

Gap to the S&P 500 −1.0 pts +3.6 pts

Expense ratio 0.18% 0.28%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 0.0%

Holdings 3769 10481

Net assets, as of Jul 31, 2026 $17.5bn $12.0bn

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

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.

DFAX in plain words

DFAX is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +20.9% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.28% 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 10,481 positions, with the top ten at 8.2%. It sat 3.4% below its high of Sep 4, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, DFAI or DFAX?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAI returned +16.3% and DFAX +20.9%.
Which is cheaper, DFAI or DFAX?: DFAI is cheaper, by 0.10 percentage points a year. That is about $10 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do DFAI and DFAX overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of DFAI and 0% of DFAX by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

DFAI vs ESGD DFAI vs FENI DFAI vs IQLT DFAI vs DFIC DFAX vs DFIC DFAX vs IQLT DFAX vs IDEV DFAX vs SPDW

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

Where these figures came from

DFAI and DFAX filings on SEC EDGAR ↗DFAI and DFAX 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, DFAI against DFAX, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dfai-vs-dfax

Open data

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