AVDE vs PGRI

AVDEAAvantis International Equity ETF

PGRIDPutnam International Stock ETF

In short

AVDE Active management at almost-index prices: Avantis runs roughly 3,300 developed-market stocks outside the US without tracking a benchmark, for 0.23% a year. One of the strongest implementations in its active international peer group.

PGRI A Putnam stock-picking team turned loose on the world outside the US: large and midsize companies across developed and emerging markets, wrapped in an ETF that opened for business in late 2025 at 0.55% a year.

Stated mandate

AVDE Invests in a broad range of stocks of all sizes across non-U.S. developed countries, with active portfolio management rather than replication of a specified index.

PGRI The Fund seeks capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity securities of large and midsize companies outside the United States, including issuers in developed and emerging markets.

Why people hold it

• AVDE 0.23% a year, well under half the typical fee in its active international peer group. Active management usually costs more than this.
• Index-like breadth without an index: about 3,300 stocks of all sizes across non-US developed countries, chosen by managers rather than copied from a benchmark.avantisinvestors.com
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so getting in and out tends to be cheap and easy. It pays out quarterly.
• Sits at the top of a crowded field alongside rivals like DFIC and JIRE, priced within a basis point or two of both.

• PGRI A wide passport rather than a narrow sleeve: large and midsize companies outside the US, with both developed and emerging markets in bounds, so the managers can move toward where they see the ideas.
• At 0.55% a year, it comes in under the typical actively managed international fund in its peer group. Active stock picking without the top-shelf active price tag.
• Putnam's international equity mandate inside Franklin Templeton's ETF lineup, run as a plain 1940 Act fund rather than a derivative-driven or commodity-trust structure.

Worth knowing

• AVDE Developed markets only. Emerging markets are a separate purchase if you want them.
• No index to grade the manager against, so results come down to Avantis's own portfolio calls rather than a published benchmark.
• It is all-equity and all-foreign: stock market swings plus currency moves both show up in the price.

• PGRI It launched in October 2025, so there is no long record to lean on, and because the mandate is active there is no declared index to measure it against day to day.
• Index-driven neighbors in the same aisle, such as AVDE and DFIC, charge closer to 0.2%. The gap is the toll for having a human make the calls.
• Still a small, thinly traded fund, which tends to mean wider bid-ask spreads than the category giants, and payouts land once or twice a year rather than monthly.

Full AVDE profile⁠

Full PGRI profile⁠