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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IEFA returned +12.3% and VO +12.8%.

Which is cheaper, IEFA or VO?

VO is cheaper, by 0.04 percentage points a year. That is about $4 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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

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

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

IEFA vs VO: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IEFA returned +12.3% to VO's +12.8%; 2% of their weight is in the same names.

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Net assets: $190.4bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF, and $103.4bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Morningstar Mid-Cap ETF.

IEFA on its own →VO on its own →

At a glance

+12.3%

IEFA total return, 1 year

+12.8%

VO total return, 1 year

0.07%

IEFA expense ratio

0.03%

VO expense ratio

Pair scorecard

VO costs 0.04 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.5 points; IEFA is 1.8 times larger.

IEFA vs VO: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IEFA	VO
Return
Measure	IEFA	VO
Total return, 1 year	+12.3%	+12.8%
Drawdown
Measure	IEFA	VO
Below its high	4.7%, high on Aug 25, 2026	3.1%, high on Aug 14, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	IEFA	VO
What it tracks	MSCI EAFE IMI Index	Morningstar US Mid Cap Index (formerly CRSP US Mid Cap Index)
Cost and size
Measure	IEFA	VO
Expense ratio	0.07%	0.03%
Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026	$190.2bn	$103.4bn
Holdings
Measure	IEFA	VO
Holdings in common	2%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	12.3%	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, IEFA 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 IEFA VO

ROCHE PS PAR AG 1.36% 0.34%

DEUTSCHE TELEKOM N AG 0.38% 0.25%

VINCI SA 0.23% 0.26%

ESSILORLUXOTTICA SA 0.24% 0.23%

RECKITT BENCKISER GROUP PLC 0.18% 0.22%

PRUDENTIAL PLC 0.12% 0.39%

ARISTOCRAT LEISURE 0.10% 0.55%

HEIDELBERG MATERIALS AG 0.09% 0.12%

HELVETIA BALOISE HOLDING N AG 0.08% 0.30%

ADMIRAL GROUP PLC 0.05% 0.38%

EQT 0.05% 0.15%

TELENOR 0.03% 0.60%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in IEFA

ASML HOLDING 2.55%

SHELL 1.21%

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC 1.18%

NOVARTIS AG 1.14%

ASTRAZENECA PLC 1.04%

NESTLE SA 1.04%

SAP 0.97%

MITSUBISHI UFJ FINANCIAL GROUP 0.92%

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

IEFA iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF VO Vanguard Morningstar Mid-Cap ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares Vanguard

What it is Tracks the MSCI EAFE Tracks an index of Mid-Cap

Total return, 1 year +12.3% +12.8%

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

Gap to its benchmark −2.0 pts vs ACWX not measured

Expense ratio 0.07% 0.03%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 91.1%

Holdings 2629 273

Net assets, IEFA as of Oct 28, 2026 and VO as of Sep 30, 2026 $190.4bn $103.4bn

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

Alert

About each fund

IEFA

IEFA tracks the MSCI EAFE. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +12.3% with distributions reinvested, against +14.3% for its benchmark, the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.07% 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 2,629 positions, with the top ten at 12.3%. 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, IEFA or VO?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IEFA returned +12.3% and VO +12.8%.
Which is cheaper, IEFA or VO?: VO is cheaper, by 0.04 percentage points a year. That is about $4 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do IEFA and VO overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of IEFA and 91% of VO by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

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

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

IEFA filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

IEFA prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for IEFA ↗

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, IEFA against VO, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iefa-vs-vo

Open data →

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