Which returned more over the last year, DFEM or VWO?

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFEM returned +26.1% and VWO +12.1%.

Which is cheaper, DFEM or VWO?

VWO is cheaper, by 0.33 percentage points a year. That is about $33 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do DFEM and VWO overlap with the S&P 500?

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

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DFEM vs VWO: Differences, Returns & Fees

DFEM and VWO hold 57% of their weight in the same names, and DFEM returned +26.1% over the year. Net assets: $9.0bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF, and $125.4bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF.

VWO costs 0.33 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 14.0 points; VWO is 18.1 times larger.

	DFEM	VWO
Expense ratio	0.39%	0.06%
Net assets, as of Jul 31, 2026	$9.0bn	$162.0bn
Total return, 1 year	+26.1%	+12.1%
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap China A Inclusion Index
Holdings in common	57%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	24.3%	28.9%
Below its high	4.3%, high on Jun 22, 2026

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

+26.1%

DFEM total return, 1 year

+12.1%

VWO total return, 1 year

0.39%

DFEM expense ratio

0.06%

VWO expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, DFEM and VWO hold 57% 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

57% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding DFEM VWO

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited 10.26% 14.73%

Tencent Holdings Limited 1.95% 2.90%

Alibaba Group Holding Limited 0.82% 2.19%

CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK CORPORATION 0.75% 0.86%

HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO., LTD. 0.46% 0.78%

MediaTek Inc. 0.41% 1.47%

Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. 0.48% 0.37%

BHARTI AIRTEL LIMITED 0.37% 0.47%

DELTA ELECTRONICS, INC. 0.36% 0.90%

INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL BANK OF CHINA LIMITED 0.35% 0.62%

ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. 0.34% 0.49%

UNIMICRON TECHNOLOGY CORP. 0.39% 0.34%

Only in DFEM

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 4.40%

SK hynix Inc. 4.25%

ICICI BANK LIMITED 0.45%

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 0.42%

HDFC BANK LIMITED 0.41%

SAMSUNG ELECTRO-MECHANICS CO.,LTD 0.37%

Lenovo Group Limited 0.35%

VALE S.A. 0.33%

Only in VWO

SLCMT1142 3.18%

MKTLIQ 1.21%

Bajaj Finance Ltd 0.24%

Baidu Inc 0.21%

DELTA ELECTRONICS THAI-FORGN 0.17%

Shriram Finance Ltd 0.13%

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd 0.13%

PTT PCL/FOREIGN 0.12%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

DFEM

Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF

VWO

Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer Dimensional Vanguard

What it is Actively managed Tracks an index of Emerging markets

Total return, 1 year +26.1% +12.1%

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

Gap to the S&P 500 +8.9 pts −5.1 pts

Expense ratio 0.39% 0.06%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 0.0%

Holdings 6672 6356

Net assets, DFEM as of Jul 31, 2026 and VWO as of Sep 30, 2026 $9.0bn $125.4bn

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

DFEM in plain words

DFEM is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +26.1% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.39% 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 6,672 positions, with the top ten at 24.3%. It sat 4.3% below its high of Jun 22, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

VWO in plain words

VWO tracks an index of Emerging markets. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +12.1% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.06% 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 6,356 positions, with the top ten at 28.9%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, DFEM or VWO?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFEM returned +26.1% and VWO +12.1%.
Which is cheaper, DFEM or VWO?: VWO is cheaper, by 0.33 percentage points a year. That is about $33 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do DFEM and VWO overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of DFEM and 0% of VWO by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

DFEM vs IEMG DEM vs DFEM DFEM vs EEMV CGNG vs DFEM DVYE vs VWO EDIV vs VWO IEMG vs VWO FNDE vs VWO

DFEM on its own →VWO on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →Standards and sources →

Where these figures came from

DFEM filings on SEC EDGAR ↗DFEM prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗Dimensional website ↗VWO filings on SEC EDGAR ↗VWO prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗Vanguard page for VWO ↗

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, DFEM against VWO, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dfem-vs-vwo

Open data

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