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

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAI returned +16.3% and SPDW +19.7%.

Which is cheaper, DFAI or SPDW?

SPDW is cheaper, by 0.15 percentage points a year. That is about $15 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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

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

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DFAI vs SPDW: Differences, Returns & Fees

DFAI and SPDW hold 73% of their weight in the same names, and SPDW returned +19.7% over the year. Net assets: $17.5bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF, and $40.5bn on Oct 8, 2026 for State Street SPDR Portfolio Developed World ex-US ETF.

SPDW costs 0.15 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 3.4 points; SPDW is 2.3 times larger.

	DFAI	SPDW
Expense ratio	0.18%	0.03%
Net assets, as of Jul 31, 2026	$17.5bn	$40.5bn
Total return, 1 year	+16.3%	+19.7%
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	S&P Developed Ex-U.S. BMI Index ?
Holdings in common	73%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	9.2%	12.9%
Below its high	4.7%, high on Aug 25, 2026	4.5%, high on Sep 4, 2026

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

+16.3%

DFAI total return, 1 year

+19.7%

SPDW total return, 1 year

0.18%

DFAI expense ratio

0.03%

SPDW expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, DFAI and SPDW hold 73% 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

73% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding DFAI SPDW

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC 1.16% 0.95%

Roche Holding AG 1.05% 0.90%

SHELL PLC 1.01% 0.88%

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. 0.76% 0.82%

ASTRAZENECA PLC 0.81% 0.74%

Nestle S.A. 0.84% 0.72%

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA 0.68% 0.81%

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION 0.63% 0.67%

BHP GROUP LIMITED 0.59% 0.66%

Siemens Aktiengesellschaft 0.58% 0.66%

Tokyo Electron Limited 0.57% 0.56%

TOTALENERGIES SE 0.62% 0.55%

Only in DFAI

ASML Holding N.V. 1.63%

Novartis AG 0.67%

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA 0.32%

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. 0.30%

UBS Group AG 0.24%

BHP GROUP LIMITED 0.20%

Banco Santander, S.A. 0.16%

THE TORONTO-DOMINION BANK 0.15%

Only in SPDW

SAMSUNG ELECTR GDR REG S 2.68%

SK HYNIX INC 2.21%

SOFTBANK GROUP CORP 0.46%

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS PREF 0.35%

SPOTIFY TECHNOLOGY SA 0.25%

INVESTOR AB B SHS 0.23%

SK SQUARE CO LTD 0.21%

SAMSUNG ELECTRO MECHANICS CO 0.19%

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On the same fields

DFAI

Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF

SPDW

State Street SPDR Portfolio Developed World ex-US ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer Dimensional State Street

What it is Actively managed Tracks an index

Total return, 1 year +16.3% +19.7%

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

Gap to the S&P 500 −1.0 pts +2.4 pts

Expense ratio 0.18% 0.03%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 0.0%

Holdings 3769 2448

Net assets, DFAI as of Jul 31, 2026 and SPDW as of Oct 8, 2026 $17.5bn $40.5bn

DFAI and SPDW 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.

SPDW in plain words

SPDW tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +19.7% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% 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 2,448 positions, with the top ten at 12.9%. It sat 4.5% below its high of Sep 4, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, DFAI or SPDW?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAI returned +16.3% and SPDW +19.7%.
Which is cheaper, DFAI or SPDW?: SPDW is cheaper, by 0.15 percentage points a year. That is about $15 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do DFAI and SPDW overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of DFAI and 0% of SPDW by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

DFAI vs IDEV DFAI vs IXUS DFAI vs SCHF DFAI vs VEU DFIC vs SPDW SPDW vs VIGI SPDW vs VSGX DIHP vs SPDW

DFAI on its own →SPDW 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 ↗SPDW filings on SEC EDGAR ↗SPDW prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗State Street 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 SPDW, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dfai-vs-spdw

Open data

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