Which returned more over the last year, DFAU or ESGU?

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAU returned +17.2% and ESGU +17.3%.

Which is cheaper, DFAU or ESGU?

DFAU is cheaper, by 0.03 percentage points a year. That is about $3 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do DFAU and ESGU overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 87% of DFAU and 97% of ESGU by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

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DFAU vs ESGU: Differences, Returns & Fees

DFAU and ESGU hold 66% of their weight in the same names. Net assets: $12.4bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Dimensional US Core Equity Market ETF, and $18.3bn on Oct 9, 2026 for iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF.

DFAU costs 0.03 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.1 points; ESGU is 1.4 times larger.

DFAU vs ESGU: Differences, Returns & Fees
	DFAU	ESGU
Expense ratio	0.12%	0.15%
Net assets, as of Jul 31, 2026	$12.4bn	$17.8bn
Total return, 1 year	+17.2%	+17.3%
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	MSCI USA Extended ESG Focus Index
Holdings in common	66%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	33.7%	37.8%

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

+17.2%

DFAU total return, 1 year

+17.3%

ESGU total return, 1 year

0.12%

DFAU expense ratio

0.15%

ESGU expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, DFAU and ESGU hold 66% 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

66% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding DFAU ESGU

NVIDIA CORPORATION 6.74% 7.87%

APPLE INC. 6.45% 7.25%

MICROSOFT CORPORATION 5.09% 5.67%

AMAZON.COM, INC. 3.59% 3.69%

ALPHABET INC. 2.74% 3.50%

BROADCOM INC. 2.35% 2.46%

ALPHABET INC. 2.28% 1.93%

META PLATFORMS, INC. 1.79% 2.16%

MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC. 1.39% 1.69%

JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. 1.27% 1.28%

TESLA, INC. 1.08% 1.60%

ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES, INC. 0.86% 1.50%

Only in DFAU

ELI LILLY AND COMPANY 1.24%

WALMART INC. 0.58%

APPLIED MATERIALS, INC. 0.47%

GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 0.44%

Philip Morris International Inc. 0.35%

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED 0.32%

LINDE PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY 0.28%

SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY HOLDINGS PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY 0.27%

Only in ESGU

ELI LILLY 1.37%

APPLIED MATERIAL INC 0.74%

GE AEROSPACE 0.45%

TRANE TECHNOLOGIES PLC 0.39%

TEXAS INSTRUMENT INC 0.38%

LINDE PLC 0.37%

AMERICAN TOWER REIT 0.36%

EQUINIX REIT 0.35%

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On the same fields

DFAU

Dimensional US Core Equity Market ETF

ESGU

iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer Dimensional iShares

What it is Actively managed Tracks an index

Total return, 1 year +17.2% +17.3%

Its benchmark over the same days +16.7% (IWV) not published

Gap to its benchmark +0.5 pts vs IWV not available

Expense ratio 0.12% 0.15%

Already in the S&P 500 86.8% 97.4%

Holdings 2192 269

Net assets, DFAU as of Jul 31, 2026 and ESGU as of Oct 9, 2026 $12.4bn $18.3bn

DFAU and ESGU on the fields both publish, as of Oct 9, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

About DFAU

DFAU is actively managed and tracks no index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.12% a year. By its holdings filed for Jul 31, 2026, 87% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 2,192 positions, with the top ten at 33.7%.

Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +17.2% with distributions reinvested, against +16.7% for its benchmark, the Russell 3000 Index.

About ESGU

ESGU tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +17.3% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 9, 2026, 97% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 269 positions, with the top ten at 37.8%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, DFAU or ESGU?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAU returned +17.2% and ESGU +17.3%.
Which is cheaper, DFAU or ESGU?: DFAU is cheaper, by 0.03 percentage points a year. That is about $3 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do DFAU and ESGU overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 87% of DFAU and 97% of ESGU by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

DFAU vs VTI DFAU vs SPY DFAU vs IVV DFAU vs VOO ESGU vs RECS ESGU vs SCHK DSI vs ESGU ESGU vs USMC

DFAU on its own →ESGU on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →Standards and sources →

Where these figures came from

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

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, DFAU against ESGU, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dfau-vs-esgu

Open data

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