Guide · International Developed
Best international developed-markets ETFs
A developed-markets ETF owns the large, liquid stock markets outside the United States — Japan, the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, and the rest of the developed world — without the emerging-markets slice a total-international fund carries. It is the standard complement to a US-only core when the emerging-markets weight is set separately (or at zero). This is the largest category in the catalog, but the funds at the top of the board differ mainly in one place: which index vendor's definition of "developed" they use.
How the scoring ranks these funds
The top six funds all charge 3–7 basis points and rank on liquidity and cost. Five are broad developed-core funds, and the practical difference among them is index family, not score: FTSE and S&P classify South Korea as a developed market and include Canada, while MSCI classifies Korea as emerging — and its EAFE indexes exclude Canada as well. So VEA, SCHF, and SPDW hold Korea and Canada, IDEV (MSCI World ex USA) holds Canada but not Korea, and IEFA holds neither — the largest single holdings-level difference among otherwise interchangeable funds. The sixth, VSS, is the ex-US small-cap fund rather than a developed core holding. Further down the board, older first-generation funds (EFA at 32 basis points), currency-hedged variants, and single-country funds score lower on cost and concentration.
See the methodology for the full formula behind each sub-score.
Top picks
-
94
composite / 100
Vanguard's developed-markets fund and the category's reference point — 3 basis points and the largest by AUM by a wide margin. Tracks the FTSE Developed All Cap ex US Index: roughly 3,900 holdings including small-caps, Canada, and South Korea. Paired with VWO, it replicates the VXUS leg of a 3-fund portfolio with a separately adjustable emerging-markets weight.
- Expense
- 0.030%
- AUM
- $316.31B
- Issuer
- Vanguard
- Detail
- VEA page →
-
92
composite / 100
iShares' core EAFE fund at 7 basis points. Tracks MSCI EAFE IMI, which excludes Canada and classifies South Korea as emerging — a commonly cited TLH partner for VEA, since the different index family and the Korea/Canada gap separate the two funds' holdings more than most TLH pairs. An IEFA + IEMG pairing keeps Korea covered on the emerging side.
- Expense
- 0.070%
- AUM
- $186.54B
- Issuer
- iShares
- Detail
- IEFA page →
-
94
composite / 100
Schwab's developed-markets fund, also 3 basis points. Tracks the FTSE Developed ex US Index — the large/mid-cap variant of VEA's all-cap benchmark, with ~1,500 holdings to VEA's ~3,900. Near-identical large-cap exposure to VEA; commonly the default at Schwab-domiciled accounts and a third rotation slot in VEA/IEFA TLH cycles.
- Expense
- 0.030%
- AUM
- $66.22B
- Issuer
- Schwab
- Detail
- SCHF page →
-
93
composite / 100
State Street's entry in its low-cost "Portfolio" line, 3 basis points. Tracks the S&P Developed Ex-US BMI, a broad-market index that, like FTSE, includes Canada and South Korea. Functionally interchangeable with VEA/SCHF; a fourth index family for TLH rotations.
- Expense
- 0.030%
- AUM
- $40.29B
- Issuer
- State Street
- Detail
- SPDW page →
-
93
composite / 100
Vanguard's ex-US small-cap fund, 6 basis points. Tracks the FTSE Global Small Cap ex US Index — developed and emerging small-caps together, so it is a satellite tilt rather than a core developed holding. It scores alongside the broad funds on cost and breadth (~4,900 holdings) but answers a different question.
- Expense
- 0.060%
- AUM
- $13.81B
- Issuer
- Vanguard
- Detail
- VSS page →
-
82
composite / 100
The original EAFE ETF, listed in 2001, at 32 basis points — roughly four and a half times IEFA's fee for large/mid-cap-only exposure to the same MSCI country set. Its score reflects the fee; it still holds about $77 billion in assets. IEFA is the same issuer's broader, cheaper successor.
- Expense
- 0.32%
- AUM
- $77.22B
- Issuer
- iShares
- Detail
- EFA page →
Developed-only vs total international
A total-international fund (VXUS, IXUS) holds developed and emerging markets together at market-cap weight. A developed-markets fund drops the emerging slice — roughly a quarter of ex-US market cap — which a holder can add back with a separate emerging-markets fund (VWO, IEMG) at whatever weight they choose, or omit entirely. The two-fund version adds one more position to maintain and rebalance; the one-fund version fixes the emerging weight at whatever the index says. Neither is more correct; the split is about control.
The Korea and Canada question
MSCI's EAFE indexes (IEFA, EFA) cover Europe, Australasia, and the Far East — Canada is excluded by construction, and MSCI classifies South Korea as an emerging market. FTSE and S&P (VEA, SCHF, SPDW) classify Korea as developed and include Canada. In a developed-plus-emerging pairing, vendor mixing changes country coverage: VEA + IEMG holds Korea twice, while IEFA + VWO holds it zero times. Same-family pairings (VEA + VWO, or IEFA + IEMG) count every country exactly once.
Tax-loss harvesting in this category
VEA ↔ IEFA is a commonly cited TLH pair — different index vendors, different country sets, near-identical economic exposure. SCHF and SPDW extend the rotation to four funds across three index families. As with all TLH pairs, the argument against "substantially identical" treatment rests on the index difference; the compare pages show the actual holdings overlap for any pair.
What sits at the bottom of the board
The lower half of this category is mostly narrower tools: single-country funds (EWJ, EWU, EWG and the rest of the iShares country line) at ~50 basis points with concentrated holdings, and currency-hedged variants (HEFA, DBEF, DXJ, HEDJ) that strip out foreign-exchange movement at a higher fee. The composite scores them on the same cost, tax-efficiency, liquidity, and concentration inputs as the broad funds, and they rank accordingly — not because they are defective, but because they are specialized instruments being measured against diversified core holdings.
Common questions
- Does VEA include Canada and South Korea?
- Yes. VEA tracks the FTSE Developed All Cap ex US Index, and FTSE classifies both Canada and South Korea as developed markets. MSCI-indexed funds like IEFA and EFA exclude both — Canada by the EAFE region definition, Korea because MSCI classifies it as emerging.
- What is the difference between VEA and VXUS?
- VXUS is Vanguard's total-international fund: developed plus emerging markets in one ticker. VEA is the developed-markets-only subset. VEA combined with VWO (Vanguard's emerging-markets fund) reproduces VXUS's coverage in two funds, with the emerging weight under the holder's control rather than the index's.
- Why does IEFA hold fewer stocks than VEA?
- Two reasons: IEFA's MSCI EAFE IMI index excludes Canada and South Korea, and the remaining country set simply contains fewer names than FTSE's all-cap universe. VEA holds roughly 3,900 securities to IEFA's roughly 2,600. Both extend into small-caps; the gap is mostly the country difference.
Guide. Picks come from the live PlainIndex composite for this category; editorial commentary on each pick is hand-written. Re-pulled with every catalog refresh.
PlainIndex publishes data and editorial commentary — nothing here is personalized investment advice. Read the methodology for how the scores referenced here are computed.