AVDS vs IVSI

AVDSAAvantis International Small Cap Equity ETF

IVSICApplied Finance IVS International Large ETF

In short

AVDS Avantis casts a wide net: roughly 3,000 non-US developed small caps, weighted with an eye on price, profitability and how much cash companies plow back in. Active management that looks a lot like an index fund with its thumb on the scale.

IVSI A December 2025 arrival: Applied Finance picking large caps in developed markets outside the US, no index to shadow. Everything here is early days, from the track record to the asset base.

Stated mandate

AVDS The ETF seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in a broad group of non-U.S. small-cap companies and considering valuation, profitability, and investment levels when selecting and weighting securities.

IVSI The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

Why people hold it

• AVDS Charges 0.30% a year, about half the typical fee in its active international peer group. Cheap is a durable edge in a corner of the market where fees usually run high.
• Roughly 3,000 holdings, so no single stock or country steers the outcome. This is small-cap breadth, not a concentrated stock-picking bet.
• The tilts are the whole design: valuation, profitability and investment levels shape both what it owns and how much of each, measured against MSCI World ex USA Small Cap.avantisinvestors.com
• Sits among the strongest builds in a crowded field of active international equity funds. Broad, systematic, low-fee: the boxes that tend to stay ticked.

• IVSI Simple mandate, plainly stated: long-term capital appreciation from developed markets outside the US, run actively rather than tracking a declared index.
• Standard 1940 Act stock-fund wrapper, no leverage sleeve or structural quirks flagged in the filings.
• At 0.65% a year, the fee sits close to what actively managed international ETFs typically charge, not at a boutique premium.

Worth knowing

• AVDS Thinly traded compared with the big international names. Limit orders and a look at the spread earn their keep here.
• Launched in 2023, so the live record is short even though the approach behind it is not new.
• Costs more than Avantis' broad international fund AVDE (0.23%). Small caps abroad are pricier to research and trade, and they swing harder.

• IVSI That 0.65% is roughly triple what broad systematic rivals charge (AVDE at 0.23%, DFIC at 0.22%), so the stock selection carries the whole cost gap.
• Launched in December 2025, so there is no long record to judge and the risk picture rests on a very short history.
• Small and thinly traded so far, which tends to mean wider spreads and more slippage between the price on screen and the basket underneath.

Full AVDS profile⁠

Full IVSI profile⁠