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

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

Which is cheaper, DFAX or VEA?

VEA 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 VEA overlap with the S&P 500?

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

Share on X Download as PDF

Compare their flows Ask IQ about these two funds

DFAX vs VEA: Differences, Returns & Fees

DFAX and VEA hold 49% 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 $231.6bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF.

VEA costs 0.25 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 1.2 points.

	DFAX	VEA
Expense ratio	0.28%	0.03%
Net assets, DFAX as of Jul 31, 2026 and VEA as of Sep 30, 2026	$12.0bn	$231.6bn
Total return, 1 year	+20.9%	+19.7%
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	FTSE Developed All Cap ex US Index
Holdings in common	49%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	8.2%	13.0%
Below its high	3.4%, high on Sep 4, 2026	4.4%, high on Aug 25, 2026

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

+20.9%

DFAX total return, 1 year

+19.7%

VEA total return, 1 year

0.28%

DFAX expense ratio

0.03%

VEA expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, DFAX and VEA hold 49% 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

49% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding DFAX VEA

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 1.34% 2.61%

SK hynix Inc. 0.81% 2.01%

TOTALENERGIES SE 0.54% 0.51%

Nestle S.A. 0.40% 0.75%

Roche Holding AG 0.39% 0.92%

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION 0.38% 0.63%

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA 0.36% 0.86%

Allianz SE 0.30% 0.59%

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. 0.27% 0.74%

ADVANTEST CORPORATION 0.26% 0.46%

Deutsche Telekom AG 0.26% 0.34%

BHP GROUP LIMITED 0.25% 0.72%

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%

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 0.29%

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC 0.28%

Only in VEA

SLBBH1142 1.25%

SoftBank Group Corp 0.36%

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS-PREF 0.33%

Investor AB 0.23%

Air Liquide SA 0.21%

SK Square Co Ltd 0.20%

L'Oreal SA 0.18%

ORIX Corp 0.13%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

DFAX

Dimensional World ex U.S. Core Equity 2 ETF

VEA

Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer Dimensional Vanguard

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

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 +2.5 pts

Expense ratio 0.28% 0.03%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 0.0%

Holdings 10481 3898

Net assets, DFAX as of Jul 31, 2026 and VEA as of Sep 30, 2026 $12.0bn $231.6bn

DFAX and VEA 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.

VEA in plain words

VEA tracks an index of Developed markets ex US. 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 as of Aug 31, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 3,898 positions, with the top ten at 13.0%. It sat 4.4% below its high of Aug 25, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, DFAX or VEA?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAX returned +20.9% and VEA +19.7%.
Which is cheaper, DFAX or VEA?: VEA 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 VEA overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of DFAX and 0% of VEA by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

DFAX vs HEFA CGXU vs DFAX DFAX vs VSGX BBIN vs DFAX ESGD vs VEA FENI vs VEA VEA vs VIGI HEFA vs VEA

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

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 VEA, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dfax-vs-vea

Open data

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