APUE vs DFAU

APUEAActivePassive U.S. Equity ETF

DFAUADimensional US Core Equity Market ETF

In short

APUE The ActivePassive pitch squeezed into one ticker: an index core, value, quality and momentum tilts, and active sleeves, all measured against the CRSP US Large Cap Index for 0.31%, with no waiver.

DFAU Active management priced like an index fund. Dimensional spreads across roughly 2,400 US stocks, then tilts the weights toward value, profitability and momentum instead of simply mirroring the Russell 3000.

Stated mandate

APUE The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation through a blend of active and passive U.S. equity strategies.

DFAU Seeks long-term capital appreciation. It uses an integrated research, portfolio-design, management, and trading process to build a broadly diversified portfolio of U.S. companies while balancing long-term return drivers, risk, shorter-term considerations, and trading costs.

Why people hold it

• APUE Blends an index core with value, quality and momentum tilts against the CRSP US Large Cap Index, so one ticker carries the whole recipe.
• At 0.31% it sits below the typical fee in the active U.S. equity category, and that is the real price: gross and net match, no fee waiver doing the work.
• Grew into a multi-billion-dollar fund since its 2023 launch and trades with moderate volume, not a thinly followed experiment.
• Rates among the stronger implementations in a crowded field of active U.S. equity funds.

• DFAU Charges 0.12% a year, well under the 0.65% median for active US equity funds and the cheapest of the top-graded names in its group (AVLC, DFAC, FELC).
• Holds roughly 2,400 US companies, so no single name steers the fund. Whole-market coverage, not a concentrated bet.
• Active without the stock-picking drama: it leans weights toward value, profitability and momentum, using the Russell 3000 as its reference point rather than a rigid rulebook.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, and one of the strongest overall implementations in its active US equity peer group.

Worth knowing

• APUE You pay for the active sleeves: DFAU charges 0.12%, AVLC 0.15% and EBI 0.24% net of a waiver through December 31, 2026, for core U.S. equity exposure.
• Blending strategies means results can drift from the CRSP large-cap benchmark in either direction. This is not an index tracker.
• Cash comes back once or twice a year, not as a monthly paycheck.

• DFAU Those tilts cut both ways: results can drift from a plain Russell 3000 fund for long stretches, in either direction.
• No published index behind it. The trade-off for flexibility is that you're buying Dimensional's process, not a public set of rules you can check line by line.
• Distributions land quarterly, not monthly, and the mandate is long-term capital appreciation rather than income.

Full APUE profile⁠

Full DFAU profile⁠