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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, EFA returned +12.1% and VO +12.8%.

Which is cheaper, EFA or VO?

VO is cheaper, by 0.29 percentage points a year. That is about $29 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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

By their latest filed holdings, 0% of EFA and 91% of VO by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

EFA vs VO: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, EFA returned +12.1% to VO's +12.8%; 2% of their weight is in the same names.

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Net assets: $76.8bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares MSCI EAFE ETF, and $103.4bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Morningstar Mid-Cap ETF.

EFA on its own →VO on its own →

At a glance

+12.1%

EFA total return, 1 year

+12.8%

VO total return, 1 year

0.32%

EFA expense ratio

0.03%

VO expense ratio

Pair scorecard

VO costs 0.29 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.7 points; VO is 1.3 times larger.

EFA vs VO: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	EFA	VO
Return
Measure	EFA	VO
Total return, 1 year	+12.1%	+12.8%
Drawdown
Measure	EFA	VO
Below its high	4.7%, high on Aug 25, 2026	3.1%, high on Aug 14, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	EFA	VO
What it tracks	MSCI EAFE Index	Morningstar US Mid Cap Index (formerly CRSP US Mid Cap Index)
Cost and size
Measure	EFA	VO
Expense ratio	0.32%	0.03%
Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026	$76.7bn	$103.4bn
Holdings
Measure	EFA	VO
Holdings in common	2%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	14.3%	9.7%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method

What they share

By the books each fund has filed, EFA and VO hold 2% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.

50%

0 half 100%

half

2% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first EFA VO

ROCHE PS PAR AG 1.58% 0.34%

VINCI SA 0.27% 0.26%

DEUTSCHE TELEKOM N AG 0.45% 0.25%

ESSILORLUXOTTICA SA 0.28% 0.23%

RECKITT BENCKISER GROUP PLC 0.21% 0.22%

PRUDENTIAL PLC 0.14% 0.39%

ARISTOCRAT LEISURE 0.11% 0.55%

HEIDELBERG MATERIALS AG 0.10% 0.12%

HELVETIA BALOISE HOLDING N AG 0.09% 0.30%

ADMIRAL GROUP PLC 0.06% 0.38%

EQT 0.06% 0.15%

TELENOR 0.04% 0.60%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in EFA

ASML HOLDING 2.98%

SHELL 1.42%

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC 1.38%

NOVARTIS AG 1.33%

ASTRAZENECA PLC 1.21%

NESTLE SA 1.21%

SAP 1.13%

MITSUBISHI UFJ FINANCIAL GROUP 1.07%

Only in VO

Cloudflare Inc 1.11%

Valero Energy Corp 1.10%

Marathon Petroleum Corp 1.10%

Phillips 66 1.01%

Quanta Services Inc 0.95%

Vertiv Holdings Co 0.92%

Datadog Inc 0.91%

Howmet Aerospace Inc 0.89%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

EFA iShares MSCI EAFE ETF VO Vanguard Morningstar Mid-Cap ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares Vanguard

What it is Tracks an index of Developed markets ex US Tracks an index of Mid-Cap

Total return, 1 year +12.1% +12.8%

Its benchmark over the same days +14.3% (ACWX) not measured

Gap to its benchmark −2.2 pts vs ACWX not measured

Expense ratio 0.32% 0.03%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 91.1%

Holdings 665 273

Net assets, EFA as of Oct 27, 2026 and VO as of Sep 30, 2026 $76.8bn $103.4bn

EFA and VO on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

Alert

About each fund

EFA

EFA tracks an index of Developed markets ex US. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +12.1% with distributions reinvested, against +14.3% for its benchmark, the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.32% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 665 positions, with the top ten at 14.3%. It sat 4.7% below its high of Aug 25, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

VO tracks an index of Mid-Cap. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +12.8% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 91% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 273 positions, with the top ten at 9.7%. It sat 3.1% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, EFA or VO?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, EFA returned +12.1% and VO +12.8%.
Which is cheaper, EFA or VO?: VO is cheaper, by 0.29 percentage points a year. That is about $29 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do EFA and VO overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of EFA and 91% of VO by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

EFA vs IJH EFA vs MDY EFA vs MOAT EFA vs VXF VO vs VXUS IEFA vs VO VEA vs VO SCHF vs VO

Where to next

EFA on its own →VO on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →EFA dividend history →EFA holdings →VO dividend history →VO holdings →Standards and sources →

Sources and dates

EFA filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

EFA prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for EFA ↗

VO filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

VO prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

Vanguard page for VO ↗

Links are sources, not endorsements. 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, EFA against VO, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/efa-vs-vo

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