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

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFIC returned +17.4% and EFA +13.8%.

Which is cheaper, DFIC or EFA?

DFIC is cheaper, by 0.10 percentage points a year. That is about $10 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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

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

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DFIC vs EFA: Differences, Returns & Fees

DFIC and EFA hold 37% of their weight in the same names, and DFIC returned +17.4% over the year. Net assets: $14.8bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF, and $76.5bn on Oct 9, 2026 for iShares MSCI EAFE ETF.

DFIC costs 0.10 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 3.6 points; EFA is 5.3 times larger.

	DFIC	EFA
Expense ratio	0.22%	0.32%
Net assets, as of Jul 31, 2026	$14.8bn	$78.0bn
Total return, 1 year	+17.4%	+13.8%
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	MSCI EAFE Index
Holdings in common	37%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	6.9%	14.2%
Below its high	4.8%, high on Aug 25, 2026	5.0%, high on Aug 25, 2026

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

+17.4%

DFIC total return, 1 year

+13.8%

EFA total return, 1 year

0.22%

DFIC expense ratio

0.32%

EFA expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, DFIC and EFA hold 37% 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

37% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding DFIC EFA

ASML Holding N.V. 1.05% 3.35%

SHELL PLC 0.98% 1.36%

Novartis AG 0.76% 1.22%

TOTALENERGIES SE 0.72% 0.80%

Nestle S.A. 0.62% 1.11%

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC 0.49% 1.47%

Allianz SE 0.48% 0.83%

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. 0.48% 0.68%

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION 0.46% 0.82%

ROLLS-ROYCE HOLDINGS PLC 0.45% 0.71%

BHP GROUP LIMITED 0.42% 1.02%

Infineon Technologies AG 0.37% 0.41%

Only in DFIC

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA 0.67%

Deutsche Telekom AG 0.41%

BP P.L.C. 0.40%

UNICREDIT, SOCIETA PER AZIONI 0.40%

Bayer Aktiengesellschaft 0.38%

Suncor Energy Inc. 0.35%

THE TORONTO-DOMINION BANK 0.35%

BASF SE 0.33%

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%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

DFIC

Dimensional International 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 +17.4% +13.8%

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

Gap to the S&P 500 +0.2 pts −3.5 pts

Expense ratio 0.22% 0.32%

Already in the S&P 500 0.1% 0.0%

Holdings 4118 659

Net assets, DFIC as of Jul 31, 2026 and EFA as of Oct 9, 2026 $14.8bn $76.5bn

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

DFIC in plain words

DFIC is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +17.4% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.22% 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 4,118 positions, with the top ten at 6.9%. It sat 4.8% below its high of Aug 25, 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, DFIC or EFA?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFIC returned +17.4% and EFA +13.8%.
Which is cheaper, DFIC or EFA?: DFIC is cheaper, by 0.10 percentage points a year. That is about $10 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do DFIC and EFA overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of DFIC and 0% of EFA by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

DFIC vs VEU DFIC vs SCHF DFIC vs IXUS DFIC vs SPDW EFA vs IDMO EFA vs IMTM EFA vs IXUS EFA vs INTF

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

Where these figures came from

DFIC filings on SEC EDGAR ↗DFIC 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, DFIC against EFA, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dfic-vs-efa

Open data

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