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

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAI returned +16.3% and EFA +13.8%.

Which is cheaper, DFAI or EFA?

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 DFAI and EFA overlap with the S&P 500?

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

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DFAI vs EFA: Differences, Returns & Fees

DFAI and EFA hold 51% of their weight in the same names, and DFAI returned +16.3% over the year. Net assets: $17.5bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF, and $76.5bn on Oct 9, 2026 for iShares MSCI EAFE ETF.

DFAI costs 0.14 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 2.5 points; EFA is 4.5 times larger.

	DFAI	EFA
Expense ratio	0.18%	0.32%
Net assets, as of Jul 31, 2026	$17.5bn	$78.0bn
Total return, 1 year	+16.3%	+13.8%
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	MSCI EAFE Index
Holdings in common	51%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	9.2%	14.2%
Below its high	4.7%, high on Aug 25, 2026	5.0%, high on Aug 25, 2026

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

+16.3%

DFAI total return, 1 year

+13.8%

EFA total return, 1 year

0.18%

DFAI expense ratio

0.32%

EFA expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, DFAI and EFA hold 51% 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

51% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding DFAI EFA

ASML Holding N.V. 1.63% 3.35%

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC 1.16% 1.47%

SHELL PLC 1.01% 1.36%

Nestle S.A. 0.84% 1.11%

ASTRAZENECA PLC 0.81% 1.12%

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. 0.76% 1.12%

Novartis AG 0.67% 1.22%

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION 0.63% 0.82%

TOTALENERGIES SE 0.62% 0.80%

BHP GROUP LIMITED 0.59% 1.02%

Allianz SE 0.59% 0.83%

Tokyo Electron Limited 0.57% 0.81%

Only in DFAI

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA 0.68%

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%

Only in EFA

ROCHE PS PAR AG 1.40%

SIEMENS N AG 1.01%

SIEMENS ENERGY N AG 0.58%

BP PLC 0.57%

NOVO NORDISK CLASS B 0.57%

LAIR LIQUIDE SOCIETE ANONYME POUR 0.55%

UNICREDIT 0.54%

BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO 0.52%

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On the same fields

DFAI

Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF

EFA

iShares MSCI EAFE ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer Dimensional iShares

What it is Actively managed Tracks an index of Developed markets ex US

Total return, 1 year +16.3% +13.8%

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

Gap to the S&P 500 −1.0 pts −3.5 pts

Expense ratio 0.18% 0.32%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 0.0%

Holdings 3769 659

Net assets, DFAI as of Jul 31, 2026 and EFA as of Oct 9, 2026 $17.5bn $76.5bn

DFAI and EFA 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.

EFA in plain words

EFA tracks an index of Developed markets ex US. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +13.8% 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 659 positions, with the top ten at 14.2%. It sat 5.0% below its high of Aug 25, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, DFAI or EFA?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAI returned +16.3% and EFA +13.8%.
Which is cheaper, DFAI or EFA?: 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 DFAI and EFA overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of DFAI and 0% of EFA by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

DFAI vs VEU DFAI vs SCHF DFAI vs IXUS DFAI vs VXUS EFA vs VXUS EFA vs IEFA EFA vs VEA DFIC vs EFA

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

Where these figures came from

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

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 EFA, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dfai-vs-efa

Open data

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