Which returned more over the last year, DFAX or EFA?

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAX returned +20.9% and EFA +13.8%.

Which is cheaper, DFAX or EFA?

DFAX is cheaper, by 0.04 percentage points a year. That is about $4 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do DFAX and EFA overlap with the S&P 500?

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

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DFAX vs EFA: Differences, Returns & Fees

DFAX and EFA hold 26% of their weight in the same names, and DFAX returned +20.9% over the year. Net assets: $12.0bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Dimensional World ex U.S. Core Equity 2 ETF, and $76.5bn on Oct 9, 2026 for iShares MSCI EAFE ETF.

DFAX costs 0.04 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 7.1 points; EFA is 6.5 times larger.

	DFAX	EFA
Expense ratio	0.28%	0.32%
Net assets, as of Jul 31, 2026	$12.0bn	$78.0bn
Total return, 1 year	+20.9%	+13.8%
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	MSCI EAFE Index
Holdings in common	26%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	8.2%	14.2%
Below its high	3.4%, high on Sep 4, 2026	5.0%, high on Aug 25, 2026

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

+20.9%

DFAX total return, 1 year

+13.8%

EFA total return, 1 year

0.28%

DFAX expense ratio

0.32%

EFA expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, DFAX and EFA hold 26% 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

26% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding DFAX EFA

Novartis AG 0.67% 1.22%

ASML Holding N.V. 0.62% 3.35%

TOTALENERGIES SE 0.54% 0.80%

SHELL PLC 0.48% 1.36%

Nestle S.A. 0.40% 1.11%

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION 0.38% 0.82%

Allianz SE 0.30% 0.83%

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC 0.28% 1.47%

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. 0.27% 1.12%

ADVANTEST CORPORATION 0.26% 0.89%

BHP GROUP LIMITED 0.25% 1.02%

Fujikura Ltd. 0.31% 0.25%

Only in DFAX

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited 1.86%

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 1.34%

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited 0.99%

SK hynix Inc. 0.81%

Tencent Holdings Limited 0.49%

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA 0.36%

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 0.29%

Deutsche Telekom AG 0.26%

Only in EFA

ROCHE PS PAR AG 1.40%

SIEMENS N AG 1.01%

SIEMENS ENERGY N AG 0.58%

BP PLC 0.57%

NOVO NORDISK CLASS B 0.57%

LAIR LIQUIDE SOCIETE ANONYME POUR 0.55%

UNICREDIT 0.54%

BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO 0.52%

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On the same fields

DFAX

Dimensional World ex U.S. Core Equity 2 ETF

EFA

iShares MSCI EAFE ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer Dimensional iShares

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

Total return, 1 year +20.9% +13.8%

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

Gap to the S&P 500 +3.6 pts −3.5 pts

Expense ratio 0.28% 0.32%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 0.0%

Holdings 10481 659

Net assets, DFAX as of Jul 31, 2026 and EFA as of Oct 9, 2026 $12.0bn $76.5bn

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

DFAX in plain words

DFAX is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +20.9% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.28% 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 10,481 positions, with the top ten at 8.2%. It sat 3.4% below its high of Sep 4, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

EFA in plain words

EFA tracks an index of Developed markets ex US. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +13.8% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.32% 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 659 positions, with the top ten at 14.2%. It sat 5.0% below its high of Aug 25, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, DFAX or EFA?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAX returned +20.9% and EFA +13.8%.
Which is cheaper, DFAX or EFA?: DFAX is cheaper, by 0.04 percentage points a year. That is about $4 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do DFAX and EFA overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of DFAX and 0% of EFA by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

DFAX vs VEU DFAX vs SCHF DFAX vs IXUS DFAX vs SPDW EFA vs ESGD EFA vs FENI EFA vs IQLT EFA vs HEFA

DFAX on its own →EFA on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →Standards and sources →

Where these figures came from

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

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, DFAX against EFA, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dfax-vs-efa

Open data

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