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

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAI returned +16.3% and VXUS +17.8%.

Which is cheaper, DFAI or VXUS?

VXUS is cheaper, by 0.13 percentage points a year. That is about $13 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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

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

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DFAI vs VXUS: Differences, Returns & Fees

DFAI and VXUS hold 58% of their weight in the same names, and VXUS returned +17.8% over the year. Net assets: $17.5bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF, and $163.2bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Total International Stock ETF.

VXUS costs 0.13 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 1.5 points; VXUS is far larger, $645.9bn against $17.5bn.

	DFAI	VXUS
Expense ratio	0.18%	0.05%
Net assets, as of Jul 31, 2026	$17.5bn	$645.9bn
Total return, 1 year	+16.3%	+17.8%
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	FTSE Global All Cap ex US Index
Holdings in common	58%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	9.2%	14.1%
Below its high	4.7%, high on Aug 25, 2026	3.9%, high on Sep 4, 2026

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

+16.3%

DFAI total return, 1 year

+17.8%

VXUS total return, 1 year

0.18%

DFAI expense ratio

0.05%

VXUS expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, DFAI and VXUS hold 58% 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

58% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding DFAI VXUS

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC 1.16% 0.77%

Roche Holding AG 1.05% 0.67%

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA 0.68% 0.62%

SHELL PLC 1.01% 0.56%

Nestle S.A. 0.84% 0.55%

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. 0.76% 0.54%

Siemens Aktiengesellschaft 0.58% 0.53%

ASTRAZENECA PLC 0.81% 0.53%

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION 0.63% 0.46%

THE TORONTO-DOMINION BANK 0.49% 0.44%

Banco Santander, S.A. 0.43% 0.47%

Allianz SE 0.59% 0.43%

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%

THE TORONTO-DOMINION BANK 0.15%

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. 0.13%

BANK OF MONTREAL 0.13%

Only in VXUS

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd 3.98%

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd 1.90%

SLCMT1142 1.83%

SK hynix Inc 1.46%

Tencent Holdings Ltd 0.78%

MKTLIQ 0.65%

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd 0.59%

MediaTek Inc 0.40%

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On the same fields

DFAI

Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF

VXUS

Vanguard Total International Stock ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer Dimensional Vanguard

What it is Actively managed Tracks an index of Total International Stock

Total return, 1 year +16.3% +17.8%

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

Gap to the S&P 500 −1.0 pts +0.5 pts

Expense ratio 0.18% 0.05%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 0.0%

Holdings 3769 8802

Net assets, DFAI as of Jul 31, 2026 and VXUS as of Sep 30, 2026 $17.5bn $163.2bn

DFAI and VXUS 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.

VXUS in plain words

VXUS tracks an index of Total International Stock. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +17.8% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.05% 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 8,802 positions, with the top ten at 14.1%. It sat 3.9% below its high of Sep 4, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, DFAI or VXUS?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAI returned +16.3% and VXUS +17.8%.
Which is cheaper, DFAI or VXUS?: VXUS is cheaper, by 0.13 percentage points a year. That is about $13 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do DFAI and VXUS overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of DFAI and 0% of VXUS by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

CORO vs DFAI DFAI vs DFAX DFAI vs ESGD DFAI vs VSGX GSID vs VXUS DFIC vs VXUS IQLT vs VXUS DFAX vs VXUS

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

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

Open data

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