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

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

Which is cheaper, DFAI or VEA?

VEA 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 VEA overlap with the S&P 500?

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

Share on X Download as PDF

Compare their flows Ask IQ about these two funds

DFAI vs VEA: Differences, Returns & Fees

DFAI and VEA hold 74% of their weight in the same names, and VEA returned +19.7% over the year. Net assets: $17.5bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF, and $231.6bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF.

VEA costs 0.15 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 3.4 points.

	DFAI	VEA
Expense ratio	0.18%	0.03%
Net assets, DFAI as of Jul 31, 2026 and VEA as of Sep 30, 2026	$17.5bn	$231.6bn
Total return, 1 year	+16.3%	+19.7%
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	FTSE Developed All Cap ex US Index
Holdings in common	74%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	9.2%	13.0%
Below its high	4.7%, high on Aug 25, 2026	4.4%, high on Aug 25, 2026

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

+16.3%

DFAI total return, 1 year

+19.7%

VEA total return, 1 year

0.18%

DFAI expense ratio

0.03%

VEA expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, DFAI and VEA hold 74% 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 Aug 31, 2026.

50%

half

74% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding DFAI VEA

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC 1.16% 1.05%

Roche Holding AG 1.05% 0.92%

SHELL PLC 1.01% 0.77%

Nestle S.A. 0.84% 0.75%

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. 0.76% 0.74%

ASTRAZENECA PLC 0.81% 0.72%

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA 0.68% 0.86%

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION 0.63% 0.63%

BHP GROUP LIMITED 0.59% 0.72%

Allianz SE 0.59% 0.59%

Siemens Aktiengesellschaft 0.58% 0.73%

COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA 0.52% 0.57%

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 VEA

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd 2.61%

SK hynix Inc 2.01%

SLBBH1142 1.25%

SoftBank Group Corp 0.36%

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS-PREF 0.33%

Investor AB 0.23%

Air Liquide SA 0.21%

SK Square Co Ltd 0.20%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

DFAI

Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF

VEA

Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer Dimensional Vanguard

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

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 +2.5 pts

Expense ratio 0.18% 0.03%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 0.0%

Holdings 3769 3898

Net assets, DFAI as of Jul 31, 2026 and VEA as of Sep 30, 2026 $17.5bn $231.6bn

DFAI and VEA 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.

VEA in plain words

VEA tracks an index of Developed markets ex US. 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 as of Aug 31, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 3,898 positions, with the top ten at 13.0%. It sat 4.4% below its high of Aug 25, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, DFAI or VEA?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAI returned +16.3% and VEA +19.7%.
Which is cheaper, DFAI or VEA?: VEA 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 VEA overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of DFAI and 0% of VEA by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

DFAI vs IEFA DFAI vs VXUS DFAI vs EFA DFAI vs SPDW VEA vs VXUS GSID vs VEA DFIC vs VEA IQLT vs VEA

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

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

Open data

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