PGRI vs TACN

PGRIDPutnam International Stock ETF

TACNAT. Rowe Price Active Core International Equity ETF

In short

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.

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

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.

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

Why people hold it

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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 PGRI profile⁠

Full TACN profile⁠