ETF comparison
EFA vs VEA
Both International Developed.
iShares MSCI EAFE ETF · Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets Index Fund ETF Shares
Holdings overlap
658 positions appear in both funds. Buying equal dollars of EFA and VEA would leave roughly 65.5% of each dollar exposed to the same underlying securities.
Unmatched is the part of a fund's weight the other fund doesn't match: names only it holds, plus any extra weight it puts in names both funds hold.
Side by side
Sub-score comparison
Tracking quality isn't part of the composite — see what we don't score for why.
Cost difference
VEA is 29 bps cheaper than EFA. On a $100,000 position that's about $290/yr more in fees for EFA.
Fee figure is the annual expense charged on $100,000. To see how the gap compounds over a multi-decade holding period, open the cost calculator pre-filled with EFA vs VEA.
Top shared holdings
658 shared in total| # | Holding | In EFA | In VEA | Overlap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ASML Holding N.V. | 2.90% | 2.36% | 2.36% |
| 2 | HSBC HOLDINGS PLC | 1.66% | 1.00% | 1.00% |
| 3 | Novartis AG | 1.30% | 0.90% | 0.90% |
| 4 | Roche Holding AG | 1.39% | 0.89% | 0.89% |
| 5 | ASTRAZENECA PLC | 1.17% | 0.87% | 0.87% |
| 6 | Nestle S.A. | 1.17% | 0.82% | 0.82% |
| 7 | Siemens Aktiengesellschaft | 1.10% | 0.73% | 0.73% |
| 8 | SHELL PLC | 1.17% | 0.67% | 0.67% |
| 9 | Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. | 1.08% | 0.67% | 0.67% |
| 10 | Tokyo Electron Limited | 0.68% | 0.66% | 0.66% |
| 11 | BHP GROUP LIMITED | 0.97% | 0.65% | 0.65% |
| 12 | Banco Santander, S.A. | 0.93% | 0.62% | 0.62% |
Only in EFA
16 total- SPOTIFY TECHNOLOGY S.A. 0.33%
- TEVA PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRIES LIMITED 0.18%
- SEA LIMITED 0.18%
- Nebius Group N.V. 0.17%
- AerCap Holdings N.V. 0.11%
- CHECK POINT SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES LTD. 0.05%
- MILLICOM INTERNATIONAL CELLULAR S.A. 0.04%
- GRAB HOLDINGS LIMITED 0.04%
- YANGZIJIANG SHIPBUILDING (HOLDINGS) LTD. 0.03%
- Sartorius Aktiengesellschaft 0.03%
Only in VEA
3,204 total- Samsung Electronics Co Ltd 1.61%
- Samsung Electronics Co Ltd 1.55%
- SK hynix Inc 1.39%
- Royal Bank of Canada 0.90%
- Toronto-Dominion Bank/The 0.63%
- Bank of Montreal 0.39%
- Enbridge Inc 0.37%
- Samsung Electronics Co Ltd 0.35%
- Bank of Nova Scotia/The 0.33%
- Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce 0.33%
Related comparisons
More comparisons with EFA
- EFA vs IEUR · iShares Core MSCI Europe ETF 65.0%
- EFA vs VGK · Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF 62.1%
- EFA vs JIRE · JPMorgan International Research Enhanced Equity ETF 61.5%
- EFA vs PXF · Invesco RAFI Developed Markets ex-U.S. ETF 61.1%
- EFA vs BBEU · JPMorgan BetaBuilders Europe ETF 60.9%
- EFA vs EFV · iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF 56.4%
More comparisons with VEA
- VEA vs VSGX · Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF 64.8%
- VEA vs CWI · State Street SPDR MSCI ACWI ex-US ETF 64.7%
- VEA vs BBIN · JPMorgan BetaBuilders International Equity ETF 64.0%
- VEA vs PXF · Invesco RAFI Developed Markets ex-U.S. ETF 63.3%
- VEA vs FNDF · Schwab Fundamental International Equity ETF 58.4%
- VEA vs DFIC · Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF 52.5%
Percentages are holdings overlap with the named fund.
Open EFA or VEA at a brokerage
Both funds trade commission-free at major US brokerages.
Affiliate links — opening an account through these earns PlainIndex a one-time referral. Scoring is computed before any affiliate consideration; see our methodology and funding disclosure.
Holdings overlap is the sum of min(weight_a, weight_b) over positions
matched on ISIN (CUSIP fallback). Methodology: see
/methodology/.
Comparing two funds doesn't endorse swapping one for the other. Tax-lot history, account type, and personal goals matter — PlainIndex publishes data and methodology, not investment advice.