MOTI vs TACN

MOTIDVanEck Morningstar International Moat ETF

TACNAT. Rowe Price Active Core International Equity ETF

In short

MOTI The international cousin of the US moat trade: Morningstar's analysts flag companies with durable competitive advantages outside America, and the index only buys the ones trading at attractive prices. Roughly 60 names, zero US exposure.

TACN T. Rowe Price's index-aware take on developed international stocks: it shadows the MSCI EAFE benchmark while nudging weights, and the fee is waived to 0.00% through January 30, 2027 (0.20% gross).

Stated mandate

MOTI The fund seeks to replicate, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Morningstar Global Markets ex-US Wide Moat Focus Index.

TACN The fund's goal is to achieve long-term capital growth.

Why people hold it

• MOTI Two screens, not one: a company needs Morningstar's wide moat rating and an attractive valuation to enter the index. Quality and value, both advertised up front.vaneck.com
• About 60 stocks, so each holding actually matters. That is a different animal from ex-US index funds carrying hundreds or thousands of names.
• At 0.58% a year it sits just under the median fee in its international peer group, running the same rules-based moat mandate since its 2015 launch.

• TACN Fee waived to zero through January 30, 2027, then the 0.20% gross rate applies. Top-scoring active international peers AVDE (0.23%) and DFIC (0.22%) charge more, with no waiver.troweprice.com
• Built around the MSCI EAFE Index: an optimizer modestly over- and underweights names, targeting tracking error above most passive funds and below most active ones.sec.govtroweprice.com
• Names come from T. Rowe's quant models plus bottom-up fundamental research (valuation, profitability, financial stability, earnings quality), with at least 80% of net assets normally in equities.sec.govtroweprice.com
• Despite being new, it already stands among the strongest-rated funds in a crowded active international equity group, with long-term capital growth as the stated goal.

Worth knowing

• MOTI Concentration cuts both ways: with roughly 60 names, one company's stumble lands harder than it would inside a broad international index fund.
• Plain-vanilla rivals cost far less. AVDE and DFIC deliver broad international exposure for under a quarter of a percent.
• One of the less-traded funds in its category, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than on the big international index products.

• TACN Launched December 10, 2025, so the track record is short and assets are still small. Trading is thin, which can mean wider spreads than at big index rivals.
• The zero fee is contractual, not permanent: it runs through January 30, 2027, after which the 0.20% gross expense ratio kicks in.troweprice.com
• Low tracking error is the design, not a bug. The active tilt is deliberately modest, so the portfolio is built to hug EAFE rather than stray from it.sec.gov

Full MOTI profile⁠

Full TACN profile⁠