ESGD vs ESGV: Which ETF Is Better in 2026?
A metric-by-metric comparison of iShares ESG Aware MSCI EAFE ETF (ESGD) and Vanguard ESG U.S. Stock ETF (ESGV) — both ESG funds — using ETFValuer's daily-updated rankings.
Educational content — not financial advice. Data as of July 25, 2026. ~5 minute read.
The Verdict
ESGD and ESGV compete directly — both are ESG funds chasing the same job in a portfolio. That makes this a genuine either/or: the index each tracks, what it costs, and how it has handled drawdowns are what separate them, not the broad exposure they give you.
ESGD and ESGV score almost identically on ETFValuer's model (65.4 vs. 65.4) — the honest answer is that either is a reasonable choice, and the decision comes down to the secondary factors below rather than the headline grade.
Head-to-Head: Every Metric
| ESGD | ESGV | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | ESG | ESG |
| Expense ratio | 0.20% | 0.09% |
| Fund size (AUM) | $11.8B | $13.2B |
| Dividend yield | 3.33% | 0.87% |
| 1-year return | +16.35% | +16.94% |
| 3-year return | +51.06% | +65.80% |
| Volatility | 15.85% | 14.38% |
| Max drawdown | -13.86% | -20.41% |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.72 | 0.83 |
| ETFValuer score | 65.4 | 65.4 |
| Grade | B | B |
| Overall rank | #166 | #165 |
Bold marks the better value in each row. "Better" is directional only (e.g. lower cost, higher return) — it isn't a recommendation by itself. See the full methodology.
Cost
ESGV is the cheaper fund, charging 0.09% a year versus 0.20% for ESGD — a gap of 0.11 percentage points (about $11.00/year on a $10,000 position) that compounds meaningfully over a multi-decade holding period. See the ETF Fee Calculator for the exact dollar impact at your investment size and horizon.
What ESGD's Fees Cost You
ESGD charges an expense ratio of 0.20% a year, deducted automatically from the fund's value. Small percentages compound into real money — adjust the figures below to see the impact on your own numbers.
Assumes a constant gross return and no additional contributions — a simplification, but it isolates exactly what the expense ratio costs. Try the full fee calculator to model contributions and compare any two funds.
Performance & Risk
Over the trailing 3 years, ESGV returned +65.80% versus +51.06% for ESGD — a gap of about 14.7 percentage points. On risk, ESGD has held up better historically, with a shallower max drawdown (-13.86% vs. -20.41%). ESGV currently has the better risk-adjusted return (Sharpe ratio of 0.83 vs. 0.72), meaning it delivered more return per unit of volatility taken on.
How Closely Do They Track Each Other?
Over the last 3.0 years of daily returns (752 shared trading days), ESGD and ESGV show a strong correlation of 0.754 — clearly related, with room to diverge. There is some genuine differentiation here, but not enough to call these complementary holdings. Pairing them mostly concentrates risk rather than spreading it.
| Measure | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Daily return correlation | 0.754 | Strong — clearly related, with room to diverge |
| R-squared | 56.9% | 56.9% of ESGD's daily moves are explained by ESGV's |
| Tracking error (annualised) | 11.15% | Typical yearly spread between the two funds' returns |
| Annualised return over 3.0y | ESGD +15.09% · ESGV +18.73% | ESGV ahead by 3.63 points a year |
Correlation alone understates how far these can drift. Across every rolling 12-month window in the period, ESGD finished as much as +21.9 points ahead of ESGV at the best extreme and -24.1 points at the worst — a 46.0-point spread between the best and worst year of relative performance. Two funds can correlate tightly day to day and still deliver very different outcomes over any single year you happen to hold them.
Calculated from daily total returns over the trailing 3-year window, recomputed every day this site refreshes. Correlation of 1.00 means the two funds moved in lockstep; 0.00 means their daily moves were unrelated.
Holdings Overlap
ESGD and ESGV share no companies among their top 10 reported holdings. That points to genuinely different exposure, so holding both is more likely to diversify than to duplicate. Full portfolios may still overlap further down the list.
Based on the top 10 holdings in each fund's most recent SEC N-PORT-P filing.
Which One Should You Pick?
Lean ESGD if…
- Current income matters to you — it yields 3.33% against 0.87%
Lean ESGV if…
- You want the lower running cost — 0.09% vs 0.20%, about $11 a year less on a $10,000 position
- You care about return per unit of risk — its Sharpe ratio of 0.83 beats 0.72
- You weight recent results heavily — it returned 65.8% over 3 years against 51.1%
Whichever you pick, holding both at full weight is usually the wrong answer — see the overlap and correlation sections above.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is ESGD or ESGV better?
They're rated almost identically by ETFValuer's model — check the cost and risk sections above for the deciding factor that matters most to you.
Which has the lower expense ratio, ESGD or ESGV?
ESGV currently has the lower expense ratio (0.09% vs. 0.20%).
Can I hold both ESGD and ESGV?
Yes, and it may be worth doing. ESGD and ESGV correlate at only 0.75 over the past 3.0 years, so they behave differently enough that holding both is a genuine diversification decision rather than a redundant one. Size each to the role you want it to play.
Go deeper on either fund
Full daily-updated metrics, holdings context, and category peers.