XEQT vs VEQT is a comparison between two funds built to do the same thing: hold a complete, all-stock global portfolio in one ticker. XEQT comes from iShares and VEQT from Vanguard. They overlap heavily, and the differences that remain are small and specific: a few hundredths of a percent in fees, the regional mix, how often cash is paid out, and which brokerages waive the commission. Every fund figure below comes from the iShares and Vanguard fund pages, which YieldMaple checked on October 8, 2026. This page is general education, not financial advice.
Individual reviews: XEQT · VEQT. For the broader Canadian ETF lineup, see Best Canadian ETFs 2026. For US-focused S&P 500 exposure, see VFV and ZSP. For Canadian dividends, see VDY and Best Canadian Dividend ETFs.
XEQT vs VEQT at a glance
| Feature | XEQT (iShares) | VEQT (Vanguard) |
|---|---|---|
| MER | 0.19% (better on this row) | 0.22% |
| Management fee | 0.17% | 0.17% |
| Number of stocks | 8,294 (Oct 7, 2026) | 13,721 (Aug 31, 2026) (better on this row) |
| Underlying ETFs | 5 iShares ETFs | four Vanguard ETFs |
| Equity target | 100% equity | 100% equity securities |
| US weight | about 46% | 44.77% |
| Canada weight | about 25% | 30.58% (better on this row) |
| International developed weight | about 24% (better on this row) | 17.63% |
| Emerging markets weight | about 5% | 7.00% (better on this row) |
| Distributions | quarterly | annually |
| 12-month trailing yield | 1.56% | 1.22% |
| Fund size | $23.3 billion (better on this row) | $17.53 billion |
| Launched | August 7, 2019 | January 29, 2019 |
| Exchange | Toronto Stock Exchange | Toronto Stock Exchange, in Canadian dollars |
Sources: iShares XEQT fund page and holdings file (figures dated October 6 and 7, 2026); Vanguard VEQT fund page and factsheet (portfolio figures dated August 31, 2026). Checked October 8, 2026.
Which is cheaper, XEQT or VEQT?
XEQT is cheaper by a small margin: its MER is 0.19% and VEQT’s is 0.22%, a gap of 0.03 percentage points.
In dollars, XEQT’s MER works out to about $19 a year for every $10,000 held and VEQT’s to about $22 a year for every $10,000 held. The difference is about $3 a year for every $10,000 held, or about $30 a year on $100,000.
Both providers cut their management fees in late 2025. Vanguard reduced VEQT’s management fee from 0.22% to 0.17%, effective November 18, 2025, and iShares reduced XEQT’s from 0.18% to 0.17% on December 18, 2025. The two management fees are now the same 0.17%. What still differs is the MER, the all-in figure each provider publishes; Vanguard’s is dated March 31, 2026.
What the MER gap adds up to over decades
A worked example shows the scale. Take a hypothetical $10,000 left alone for 30 years, and assume both funds earn the same return before fees (the assumed rate is in the calculation note on each figure; it is an illustration, not a forecast):
- In XEQT the holding would grow to about $72,170; in VEQT, to about $71,564.
- The difference after 30 years is about $606.
- On a hypothetical $100,000 the same maths gives a difference of about $6,056.
That is a real but modest sum next to the ending balance, and it assumes the MERs never change and the two funds earn identical returns before fees. Neither has been true so far: both fees were cut in 2025, and VEQT’s five-year return was slightly ahead of XEQT’s despite the higher MER (see the returns section below).
What do XEQT and VEQT hold?
Both hold thousands of stocks across Canada, the US, other developed markets and emerging markets, through a handful of index ETFs from their own provider.
XEQT holds 5 iShares ETFs: XTOT (31.28%) and the US-listed ITOT (15.06%) for US stocks, XIC (24.58%) for Canada, XEF (23.97%) for international developed markets and XEC (4.91%) for emerging markets. Together they held 8,294 stocks as of October 7, 2026.
VEQT holds four Vanguard index ETFs: a US total market fund (44.77%), a Canada all cap fund (30.58%), a developed all cap ex North America fund (17.63%) and an emerging markets all cap fund (7.00%). Vanguard counted 13,721 stocks as of August 31, 2026.
Three differences follow from those numbers:
- VEQT holds more stocks: about 5,400 more. The largest companies still appear in both funds. NVIDIA is the top holding in each, at 3.52% of XEQT and about 3.1% of VEQT.
- VEQT holds more Canada: 30.58% against XEQT’s about 25%, a gap of about 6.0 percentage points. Royal Bank of Canada, the largest Canadian holding in VEQT, is about 2.4% of that fund and 1.86% of XEQT.
- XEQT holds more international developed stocks: about 24% against VEQT’s 17.63%, a gap of about 6.3 percentage points. VEQT puts more into emerging markets instead (7.00% against about 5%).
The US weights are close: about 46% in XEQT and 44.77% in VEQT. The dates differ (October 7 for XEQT, August 31 for VEQT), so small gaps here are not meaningful.
Has XEQT or VEQT performed better?
Neither has pulled ahead: over five years to September 30, 2026, XEQT returned 13.94% a year and VEQT returned 13.96%.
| Feature | XEQT | VEQT |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 18.88% | 18.99% |
| 3 years | 23.46% | 23.52% |
| 5 years | 13.94% | 13.96% |
| Since inception | 14.46% (from August 7, 2019) | 14.24% (from January 29, 2019) |
| Calendar 2022 | −10.93% | -10.92% |
| Calendar 2024 | 24.67% | 24.87% |
| Calendar 2025 | 20.45% | 20.45% |
Sources: iShares fund page (total return) and Vanguard fund page and factsheet (NAV return), checked October 8, 2026. Past performance does not indicate future returns.
The five-year gap is about 0.02 percentage points a year in VEQT’s favour, which is smaller than the MER gap running the other way. Over one year VEQT returned 18.99% and XEQT 18.88%; over three years, 23.52% and 23.46%.
Calendar years tell the same story. In 2022, the only losing year for either fund from 2021 to 2025, XEQT returned −10.93% and VEQT -10.92%. In 2024, the strongest year of that stretch for both, XEQT returned 24.67% and VEQT 24.87%. In 2025 the two matched at 20.45%.
The since-inception figures are not a like-for-like comparison, because VEQT launched on January 29, 2019 and XEQT on August 7, 2019. Past returns say nothing certain about which fund will lead next.
How do XEQT and VEQT pay distributions?
XEQT pays distributions quarterly, while VEQT pays annually.
XEQT’s 12-month trailing yield was 1.56% as of October 6, 2026. VEQT’s was 1.22% as of September 30, 2026, a gap of about 0.34 percentage points. VEQT’s most recent annual payout was $0.76 per unit in cash, plus a $0.24 capital gains distribution paid in reinvested units (ex-date December 30, 2025; paid January 7, 2026).
Vanguard breaks VEQT’s 2025 distributions down by type as $1.00 per unit in total: about $0.32 of eligible Canadian dividends, $0.51 of foreign income, $0.24 of capital gains and under one cent of return of capital, with $0.07 of foreign tax paid. The payout schedule matters mainly to investors who want regular cash: four payments a year from XEQT against one from VEQT. For investors who reinvest everything, yield is only one part of total return, and the total returns above are nearly equal.
Where XEQT and VEQT are the same
- Equity target: iShares describes XEQT’s target as 100% equity; Vanguard describes VEQT’s as 100% equity securities.
- Rebalancing inside the fund: iShares says XEQT is continuously monitored and automatically rebalanced, as needed, to maintain its target weights. Vanguard says VEQT’s mix may be reconstituted and rebalanced from time to time at the discretion of the sub-advisor. Either way the investor does not rebalance between regions.
- Management fee: 0.17% for both.
- Listing: XEQT trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange and VEQT on the Toronto Stock Exchange, in Canadian dollars.
- Registered accounts: iShares lists XEQT as eligible for registered plans; Vanguard lists VEQT as eligible for RRSP, RRIF, RESP, TFSA, DPSP, RDSP, FHSA and non-registered accounts.
- Scale: both are large funds, at $23.3 billion for XEQT and $17.53 billion for VEQT.
Because the two funds cover the same regions and share their largest holdings, holding both adds a second ticker without adding much diversification. Adding a separate S&P 500 fund on top of either one overweights a region the fund already holds; the VFV vs XEQT comparison covers that case.
Which brokerages trade XEQT and VEQT commission-free?
Several brokerages charge no commission on either fund, and at three bank brokerages that charge per trade (TD, CIBC and RBC), the commission-free ETF list covers only one of the two.
No commission on either fund:
- Wealthsimple charges $0 commission to buy and sell.
- Questrade charges $0 to buy and sell Canadian and U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs.
- National Bank Direct Brokerage charges $0 on online Canadian and U.S. stock and ETF trades.
- BMO InvestorLine charges $0 per stock or ETF trade.
Per-trade commission, with a commission-free ETF list:
- TD Direct Investing charges $9.99 per trade on its standard pricing. Its commission-free ETF list is a set of funds including VFV, VEQT, VGRO, VBAL, SPY, QQQ and TD's own ETFs such as TEQT, but not XEQT. VEQT trades free there and XEQT does not.
- CIBC Investor’s Edge charges $6.95 per trade. Its commission-free list is a set of funds including VFV, VEQT, XGRO and XBAL, but not XEQT. Again VEQT is on it and XEQT is not.
- RBC Direct Investing charges $9.95 per trade. Its commission-free list covers iShares ETFs, including XEQT, XGRO, XBAL, XIC and XUS: XEQT is on RBC Direct Investing's commission-free ETF list and VEQT is not.
YieldMaple read each of these brokerage pages on October 8, 2026. These lists are not fixed: RBC, for one, says its list is not guaranteed and may change from time to time, so the brokerage’s own page is the place to confirm what is on it.
For a regular buyer with a small or mid-sized holding, this matters more than the MER. Twelve monthly purchases a year at TD’s standard rate cost about $120 in commissions; at CIBC, about $83; at RBC, about $119. The MER gap between the two funds is about $3 a year for every $10,000 held, so twelve trades a year at TD’s rate cost more than the MER gap until the holding reaches about $400,000 (at CIBC’s rate, about $278,000). Below that size, at a brokerage that waives the commission on only one of the two, the fund on the free list is the cheaper one to keep buying monthly. Fewer purchases a year lower the break-even in proportion. For a full fee comparison of two no-commission options, see Wealthsimple vs Questrade, and for everything Wealthsimple offers, see our complete Wealthsimple guide.
XEQT or VEQT: which fits which investor?
The two funds suit slightly different preferences, and for many investors the deciding factor is the brokerage, not the fund.
XEQT lines up with investors who:
- want the lower published MER (0.19%)
- want cash paid out quarterly
- want more international developed-market exposure (about 24%)
- use RBC Direct Investing, where XEQT is on the commission-free list
VEQT lines up with investors who:
- want the larger number of underlying stocks (13,721)
- want more Canada (30.58%) and more emerging markets (7.00%)
- are comfortable with one distribution a year
- use TD Direct Investing or CIBC Investor’s Edge, where VEQT is on the commission-free list
What the numbers do not support:
- Holding both. The two funds cover the same regions and share their largest holdings.
- Switching from one to the other for the fee alone. The MER gap is about $3 a year for every $10,000 held.
- Expecting one to outperform. Five-year returns differ by about 0.02 percentage points a year.
The verdict
XEQT has a slight cost edge and VEQT a slight breadth edge, and on the published numbers neither edge has shown up in returns. XEQT’s MER is lower by 0.03 percentage points, it pays out four times a year, and it holds more international developed stocks. VEQT holds more stocks, more Canada and more emerging markets, and pays out once a year.
At a brokerage that charges $0 commission on both, the choice comes down to those preferences. At a brokerage that waives the commission on only one of them, the fund on the free list costs less to keep buying every month unless the holding is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. An investor who already holds either fund has no strong numerical reason to move to the other.
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