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DFAU vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees

DFAU and SPY hold 83% of their weight in the same names. Net assets: $12.4bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Dimensional US Core Equity Market ETF, and $817.2bn on Oct 8, 2026 for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.

SPY costs 0.03 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.1 points; SPY is far larger, $795.3bn against $12.4bn.

DFAU vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees
DFAUSPY
Expense ratio0.12%0.09%
Net assets, as of Jul 31, 2026$12.4bn$795.3bn
Total return, 1 year+17.2%+17.3%
What it tracksNo index, actively managedS&P 500 Index
Holdings in common83%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund33.7%39.1%

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

+17.2%
DFAU total return, 1 year
+17.3%
SPY total return, 1 year
0.12%
DFAU expense ratio
0.09%
SPY expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, DFAU and SPY hold 83% 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.

half

83% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first
Holding DFAU SPY
NVIDIA CORPORATION 6.74% 8.34%
APPLE INC. 6.45% 7.42%
MICROSOFT CORPORATION 5.09% 5.80%
AMAZON.COM, INC. 3.59% 3.73%
ALPHABET INC. 2.74% 3.06%
BROADCOM INC. 2.35% 2.56%
ALPHABET INC. 2.28% 2.45%
META PLATFORMS, INC. 1.79% 2.38%
MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC. 1.39% 1.75%
JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. 1.27% 1.32%
ELI LILLY AND COMPANY 1.24% 1.40%
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC. 1.11% 1.42%
Only in DFAU
CHENIERE ENERGY, INC. 0.11%
ONEOK, INC. 0.11%
SNOWFLAKE INC. 0.10%
WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY, INC. 0.09%
CORTEVA, INC. 0.09%
SPOTIFY TECHNOLOGY S.A. 0.06%
LPL FINANCIAL HOLDINGS INC. 0.06%
TECHNIPFMC PLC 0.05%
Only in SPY
WELLTOWER INC 0.24%
PROLOGIS INC 0.18%
EQUINIX INC 0.15%
AMERICAN TOWER CORP 0.12%
SIMON PROPERTY GROUP INC 0.10%
DIGITAL REALTY TRUST INC 0.09%
ONEOK INC 0.09%
REALTY INCOME CORP 0.08%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

DFAU
Dimensional US Core Equity Market ETF
SPY
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust
Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF
Issuer Dimensional State Street
What it is Actively managed Tracks the S&P 500
Total return, 1 year +17.2% +17.3%
Its benchmark over the same days +16.7% (IWV) +17.3% (VOO)
Gap to its benchmark +0.5 pts vs IWV −0.1 pts vs VOO
Expense ratio 0.12% 0.09%
Already in the S&P 500 86.8% 99.8%
Holdings 2192 504
Net assets, DFAU as of Jul 31, 2026 and SPY as of Oct 8, 2026 $12.4bn $817.2bn

DFAU and SPY 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 SPY

SPY tracks the S&P 500. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +17.3% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 8, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 504 positions, with the top ten at 39.1%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, DFAU or SPY?
In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAU returned +17.2% and SPY +17.3%.
Which is cheaper, DFAU or SPY?
SPY 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 SPY overlap with the S&P 500?
By their latest filed holdings, 87% of DFAU and 100% of SPY by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.
Other comparisons
DFAU vs IVVDFAU vs VTIDFAU vs VOODFAU vs SPYMMTUM vs SPYIWV vs SPYOEF vs SPYDFUS vs SPY
DFAU on its own →SPY 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 ↗SPY filings on SEC EDGAR ↗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, DFAU against SPY, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dfau-vs-spy

Open data

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