VTIAX vs. FZILX: Vanguard Total International or Fidelity ZERO International ?
Figures last verified October 31, 2026
Total international, paid versus free. Vanguard's 0.09% all-cap fund against Fidelity's zero-fee version — with the usual ZERO-fund catch and one coverage gap.
| VTIAX | FZILX | |
|---|---|---|
| Fund | Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund Admiral Shares | Fidelity ZERO International Index Fund |
| Family | Vanguard | Fidelity |
| Category | International | International |
| Type | Index | Index |
| Expense ratio | 0.09% | 0.00% |
| Cost per $10k/yr | $9 | $0 |
| Minimum | $3,000 | $0 |
| Strategy | Tracks the FTSE Global All Cap ex US Index — about 8,500 stocks across developed and emerging markets outside the United States. | Tracks Fidelity's proprietary Global ex US Index — large and mid-cap developed and emerging market stocks — at 0.00%. |
FZILX is free but Fidelity-locked and skips international small caps; VTIAX costs 0.09%, includes small caps, and travels. IRA at Fidelity: FZILX is fine. Want completeness and portability: VTIAX. The bigger decision is owning international at all.
About VTIAX
Whether to own international stocks at all is one of the few arguments that still divides otherwise-agreeing index investors. Bogle himself was famously lukewarm on the idea; Vanguard's own target-date funds put roughly 40% of equities abroad. If you land on the 'yes' side, VTIAX is the cleanest single answer: every developed and emerging market outside the US, large caps through small, in one fund at 0.09%.
About FZILX
FZILX does for international what FZROX does for the US: the world ex-US, free. Roughly 2,300 large and mid-cap stocks across developed and emerging markets, no expense ratio, no minimum. Paired with FZROX, it makes a genuinely zero-cost global equity portfolio — a sentence that would have read as science fiction in the 1990s, when international funds routinely charged 1.5% plus a sales load.
Whichever you pick, the principle is the same one that runs through this whole site: minimize cost, hold for decades, ignore the noise. See how both stack up against the field in our best index funds by category, or run the numbers yourself with the expense ratio calculator.
Expense ratios and minimums drawn from fund provider documentation; last verified October 31, 2026. Editorial opinion, not investment advice. Confirm figures against the official prospectus before investing.