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

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAI returned +16.3% and ESGD +13.4%.

Which is cheaper, DFAI or ESGD?

DFAI is cheaper, by 0.02 percentage points a year. That is about $2 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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

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

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DFAI vs ESGD: Differences, Returns & Fees

DFAI and ESGD hold 40% 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 $11.8bn on Oct 9, 2026 for iShares ESG Aware MSCI EAFE ETF.

DFAI costs 0.02 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 2.9 points.

	DFAI	ESGD
Expense ratio	0.18%	0.20%
Net assets, DFAI as of Jul 31, 2026 and ESGD as of Oct 9, 2026	$17.5bn	$11.8bn
Total return, 1 year	+16.3%	+13.4%
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	not read by ETFIQ
Holdings in common	40%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	9.2%	14.2%
Below its high	4.7%, high on Aug 25, 2026	4.9%, high on Aug 13, 2026

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 9, 2026.

+16.3%

DFAI total return, 1 year

+13.4%

ESGD total return, 1 year

0.18%

DFAI expense ratio

0.20%

ESGD expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, DFAI and ESGD hold 40% 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 9, 2026.

50%

half

40% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding DFAI ESGD

ASML Holding N.V. 1.63% 3.49%

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC 1.16% 1.47%

SHELL PLC 1.01% 1.14%

Nestle S.A. 0.84% 1.03%

ASTRAZENECA PLC 0.81% 0.98%

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. 0.76% 0.86%

Novartis AG 0.67% 1.45%

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION 0.63% 0.99%

TOTALENERGIES SE 0.62% 0.89%

BHP GROUP LIMITED 0.59% 0.94%

Allianz SE 0.59% 1.01%

Tokyo Electron Limited 0.57% 0.97%

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 ESGD

ROCHE PS PAR AG 1.17%

SIEMENS N AG 1.15%

INTESA SANPAOLO 0.96%

NOVO NORDISK CLASS B 0.52%

UNICREDIT 0.52%

LOREAL SA 0.47%

SIEMENS ENERGY N AG 0.47%

ASSICURAZIONI GENERALI 0.42%

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On the same fields

DFAI

Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF

ESGD

iShares ESG Aware MSCI EAFE ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer Dimensional iShares

What it is Actively managed Tracks an index

Total return, 1 year +16.3% +13.4%

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

Gap to the S&P 500 −1.0 pts −3.9 pts

Expense ratio 0.18% 0.20%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 0.0%

Holdings 3769 337

Net assets, DFAI as of Jul 31, 2026 and ESGD as of Oct 9, 2026 $17.5bn $11.8bn

DFAI and ESGD 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.

ESGD in plain words

ESGD tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +13.4% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.20% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 9, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 337 positions, with the top ten at 14.2%. It sat 4.9% below its high of Aug 13, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, DFAI or ESGD?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAI returned +16.3% and ESGD +13.4%.
Which is cheaper, DFAI or ESGD?: DFAI is cheaper, by 0.02 percentage points a year. That is about $2 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do DFAI and ESGD overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of DFAI and 0% of ESGD by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

DFAI vs EFA DFAI vs IEFA DFAI vs VEA DFAI vs DFAX ESGD vs IDEV ESGD vs SPDW ESGD vs IXUS ESGD vs SCHF

DFAI on its own →ESGD 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 ↗ESGD filings on SEC EDGAR ↗ESGD prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗iShares page for ESGD ↗

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

Open data

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