ALIL vs AVSC

ALILDArgent Focused Small Cap ETF

AVSCAAvantis U.S. Small Cap Equity ETF

In short

ALIL A boutique stock-picker's answer to small caps: one active manager hunting durable, high-quality small companies, launched in 2025. Most of this aisle is cheap rules-based machinery. This is a human making calls, and the fee reflects it.

AVSC Avantis's whole-field small cap fund: roughly 1,500 US small companies in one ticker, run by the manager's own rules rather than a published index, at 0.25% a year.

Stated mandate

ALIL The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation through an actively managed portfolio of equity securities issued by small-capitalization companies considered high-quality, enduring businesses.

AVSC The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation and invests primarily in a diversified group of U.S. small-cap companies across market sectors and industries, with at least 80% of assets normally invested in U.S. small-cap equity securities.

Why people hold it

• ALIL Real stock-picking, not a factor screen: an actively managed portfolio of small-cap companies the manager judges to be high-quality, enduring businesses.
• What's in the fund matches what's on the tin. The portfolio lines up closely with the quality small-cap mandate in its own filings.
• Plain plumbing: a standard 1940 Act ETF that owns stocks. No leverage, no options overlay, no swap counterparties to think about.

• AVSC 0.25% a year versus a 0.52% median for active US small-cap funds. Less than half the going rate for a hands-on manager.
• Roughly 1,500 holdings spread across sectors and industries, so one small-cap blowup barely dents the fund.
• One of the strongest all-round implementations in the active US small-cap group on cost, portfolio build and ease of trading.
• Pays quarterly, trades with steady daily volume, and pulled in over a billion dollars since its 2022 launch.

Worth knowing

• ALIL Costs 0.74% a year. The category's most established names run far cheaper: AVUV and AVSC at 0.25%, DUHP at 0.20%.
• Launched in 2025, so there's no long record yet to judge the manager's picks across a full small-cap cycle.
• A small fund that trades lightly, so spreads can run wider than the household names in small-cap land.

• AVSC Undiluted small-cap equity, kept at least 80% invested in the asset class. It rides the small-cap cycle with deeper swings than a large-cap fund.
• No declared index to check it against. The manager's stock-selection rules are the product, so you are buying a process, not a published benchmark.
• Its sibling AVUV works the value slice of the same universe at the same 0.25%. Own both and you are doubling up on overlapping small-cap names.

Full ALIL profile⁠

Full AVSC profile⁠