Which returned more over the last year, ILOW or IXUS?

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ILOW returned +9.0% and IXUS +18.0%.

Which is cheaper, ILOW or IXUS?

IXUS is cheaper, by 0.43 percentage points a year. That is about $43 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do ILOW and IXUS overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 1% of ILOW and 0% of IXUS by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

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ILOW vs IXUS: Differences, Returns & Fees

ILOW and IXUS hold 14% of their weight in the same names, and IXUS returned +18.0% over the year. Net assets: $1.8bn on Oct 8, 2026 for AB International Low Volatility Equity ETF, and $58.6bn on Oct 9, 2026 for iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF.

IXUS costs 0.43 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 9.0 points; IXUS is far larger, $58.1bn against $1.8bn.

	ILOW	IXUS
Expense ratio	0.50%	0.07%
Net assets, as of Oct 8, 2026	$1.8bn	$58.1bn
Total return, 1 year	+9.0%	+18.0%
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	MSCI ACWI ex USA IMI
Holdings in common	14%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	20.7%	14.3%
Below its high	4.9%, high on Aug 25, 2026	3.8%, high on Sep 4, 2026

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

+9.0%

ILOW total return, 1 year

+18.0%

IXUS total return, 1 year

0.50%

ILOW expense ratio

0.07%

IXUS expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, ILOW and IXUS hold 14% 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 May 31, 2026 and Oct 8, 2026.

50%

half

14% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding ILOW IXUS

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd 2.50% 4.68%

ASML Holding NV 2.87% 1.68%

Shell PLC 1.33% 0.69%

Royal Bank of Canada 0.80% 0.63%

Novartis AG 1.95% 0.61%

AstraZeneca PLC 1.67% 0.56%

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc 1.51% 0.56%

SAP SE 0.95% 0.50%

TotalEnergies SE 1.08% 0.40%

Schneider Electric SE 2.10% 0.38%

Hitachi Ltd 1.34% 0.37%

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc 1.45% 0.36%

Only in ILOW

Prysmian SpA 2.13%

Enel SpA 1.71%

Tryg A/S 1.66%

Toronto-Dominion Bank/The 1.57%

KBC Group NV 1.50%

UniCredit SpA 1.48%

Nordea Bank Abp 1.47%

Lottomatica Group Spa 1.22%

Only in IXUS

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS LTD 2.18%

SK HYNIX 1.65%

TENCENT HOLDINGS 0.76%

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC 0.75%

ROCHE PS PAR AG 0.71%

NESTLE SA 0.56%

ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING 0.53%

BHP GROUP LTD 0.52%

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On the same fields

ILOW

AB International Low Volatility Equity ETF

IXUS

iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer AllianceBernstein iShares

What it is Actively managed Tracks the MSCI Total International Stock

Total return, 1 year +9.0% +18.0%

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

Gap to the S&P 500 −8.2 pts +0.7 pts

Expense ratio 0.50% 0.07%

Already in the S&P 500 0.6% 0.0%

Holdings 84 4586

Net assets, ILOW as of Oct 8, 2026 and IXUS as of Oct 9, 2026 $1.8bn $58.6bn

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

ILOW in plain words

ILOW is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +9.0% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.50% a year. By its holdings filed for May 31, 2026, 1% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 84 positions, with the top ten at 20.7%. It sat 4.9% below its high of Aug 25, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

IXUS in plain words

IXUS tracks the MSCI Total International Stock. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +18.0% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.07% 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 4,586 positions, with the top ten at 14.3%. It sat 3.8% below its high of Sep 4, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, ILOW or IXUS?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ILOW returned +9.0% and IXUS +18.0%.
Which is cheaper, ILOW or IXUS?: IXUS is cheaper, by 0.43 percentage points a year. That is about $43 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do ILOW and IXUS overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 1% of ILOW and 0% of IXUS by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

ILOW vs SPDW ACWX vs ILOW ILOW vs IQLT DBEF vs ILOW IXUS vs TOUS DDWM vs IXUS BKIE vs IXUS CGIE vs IXUS

ILOW on its own →IXUS on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →Standards and sources →

Where these figures came from

ILOW filings on SEC EDGAR ↗ILOW prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗IXUS filings on SEC EDGAR ↗IXUS prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗iShares page for IXUS ↗

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, ILOW against IXUS, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ilow-vs-ixus

Open data

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