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

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAX returned +20.9% and SPDW +19.7%.

Which is cheaper, DFAX or SPDW?

SPDW is cheaper, by 0.25 percentage points a year. That is about $25 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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

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

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DFAX vs SPDW: Differences, Returns & Fees

DFAX and SPDW hold 46% 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 $40.5bn on Oct 8, 2026 for State Street SPDR Portfolio Developed World ex-US ETF.

SPDW costs 0.25 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 1.2 points; SPDW is 3.4 times larger.

	DFAX	SPDW
Expense ratio	0.28%	0.03%
Net assets, as of Jul 31, 2026	$12.0bn	$40.5bn
Total return, 1 year	+20.9%	+19.7%
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	S&P Developed Ex-U.S. BMI Index ?
Holdings in common	46%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	8.2%	12.9%
Below its high	3.4%, high on Sep 4, 2026	4.5%, high on Sep 4, 2026

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

+20.9%

DFAX total return, 1 year

+19.7%

SPDW total return, 1 year

0.28%

DFAX expense ratio

0.03%

SPDW expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, DFAX and SPDW hold 46% 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

46% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding DFAX SPDW

SK hynix Inc. 0.81% 2.21%

TOTALENERGIES SE 0.54% 0.55%

Nestle S.A. 0.40% 0.72%

Roche Holding AG 0.39% 0.90%

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION 0.38% 0.67%

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA 0.36% 0.81%

Allianz SE 0.30% 0.53%

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 0.29% 2.68%

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. 0.27% 0.82%

ADVANTEST CORPORATION 0.26% 0.61%

Deutsche Telekom AG 0.26% 0.31%

BHP GROUP LIMITED 0.25% 0.66%

Only in DFAX

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited 1.86%

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited 0.99%

Novartis AG 0.67%

ASML Holding N.V. 0.62%

Tencent Holdings Limited 0.49%

SHELL PLC 0.48%

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC 0.28%

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA 0.26%

Only in SPDW

SOFTBANK GROUP CORP 0.46%

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS PREF 0.35%

SPOTIFY TECHNOLOGY SA 0.25%

INVESTOR AB B SHS 0.23%

SK SQUARE CO LTD 0.21%

NEBIUS GROUP NV 0.15%

ORIX CORP 0.14%

STMICROELECTRONICS NV 0.12%

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On the same fields

DFAX

Dimensional World ex U.S. Core Equity 2 ETF

SPDW

State Street SPDR Portfolio Developed World ex-US ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer Dimensional State Street

What it is Actively managed Tracks an index

Total return, 1 year +20.9% +19.7%

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

Gap to the S&P 500 +3.6 pts +2.4 pts

Expense ratio 0.28% 0.03%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 0.0%

Holdings 10481 2448

Net assets, DFAX as of Jul 31, 2026 and SPDW as of Oct 8, 2026 $12.0bn $40.5bn

DFAX and SPDW 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.

SPDW in plain words

SPDW tracks an index. 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 for Oct 8, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 2,448 positions, with the top ten at 12.9%. It sat 4.5% below its high of Sep 4, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, DFAX or SPDW?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAX returned +20.9% and SPDW +19.7%.
Which is cheaper, DFAX or SPDW?: SPDW is cheaper, by 0.25 percentage points a year. That is about $25 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do DFAX and SPDW overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of DFAX and 0% of SPDW by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

ACWX vs DFAX DFAX vs IQLT DBEF vs DFAX DFAX vs VIGI SPDW vs VEU HFXI vs SPDW EFA vs SPDW DFSI vs SPDW

DFAX on its own →SPDW 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 ↗SPDW filings on SEC EDGAR ↗SPDW prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗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, DFAX against SPDW, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dfax-vs-spdw

Open data

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