How WisdomTree’s DGRW and the iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF Compare

DGRW and DGRO are two dividend growth ETFs that have finished in a dead heat. From mid-June 2014 to November 2, 2026, $10,000 grew to about $43,760 in DGRW and about $43,750 in DGRO, a difference of roughly $5 over more than 12 years.

They got there in very different ways. DGRW, the WisdomTree U.S. Quality Dividend Growth Fund, leans heavily into technology, with NVIDIA, Microsoft and Apple at the top and a yield of about 1.2%. DGRO, the iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF, is broader, pays a higher yield and costs far less.

This guide explains how each fund picks its stocks, what they own, and how their costs, yields and dividend records compare. It also shows how they performed year by year and over rolling periods, how much cash income each actually paid on a $10,000 investment, how each behaved in up and down markets, and what DGRW’s higher fee is worth over 30 years.

Start Here: Learn With FRC

Financial Regulation Courses (FRC) has no stake in which fund you choose. FRC sells no investments and earns no commission, so this comparison focuses on how each fund works and what that means for an investor.

FRC’s ETF Investing for Beginners course explains how dividend ETFs like DGRW and DGRO work. ETF Investing Strategies covers dividend growth and quality approaches in depth, and Advanced ETF Investing goes further into building a portfolio.

FRC’s programs and memberships are open to everyone. FRC’s DGRO performance history tells DGRO’s full story, year by year and crash by crash.

DGRW vs DGRO at a Glance

Both funds weight their holdings by the dividends companies pay, but they choose those companies very differently. That single difference explains almost everything else on this page.

A Brief History of Both Funds

DGRW launched on May 22, 2013, as part of WisdomTree’s range of dividend-weighted funds. WisdomTree built its name on the idea of weighting stocks by the dividends they pay rather than by their size, and DGRW added a focus on quality and growth.

DGRO followed in June 2014 as part of BlackRock’s iShares Core range of low-cost funds. It was built around dividend growth and dividend sustainability, with a simple five-year growth rule and a payout ratio screen.

DGRO has grown much larger, with about $45 billion in assets against DGRW’s $17 billion. Its much lower fee has been a big part of that appeal.

How DGRW Picks Its Stocks

DGRW tracks the WisdomTree U.S. Quality Dividend Growth Index. It starts with US companies that pay regular dividends, have a market value of at least $2 billion and earn more than they pay out.

Companies are then ranked on three measures: expected medium-term earnings growth, return on equity and return on assets. Those with the best combined scores make it into the index.

There is no requirement for a history of raising dividends. A highly profitable company with fast-growing earnings can qualify even if it has only recently started paying a dividend, which is how companies such as NVIDIA, Meta and Alphabet end up in the fund.

Holdings are weighted by the total dividends each company pays, with caps on single companies and most sectors set at each annual rebuild. Weights can drift well beyond those levels between rebuilds as share prices move.

How DGRO Picks Its Stocks

DGRO tracks the Morningstar US Dividend Growth Index. A company qualifies only if it has raised its dividend for at least five years without interruption.

Two screens then remove riskier payers. A company’s dividend must be less than 75% of its expected earnings, and the highest-yielding 10% of eligible stocks are excluded.

The remaining companies are weighted by the total dollars of dividends they pay, with caps on any single holding. The index is rebuilt every December.

The Key Differences in Plain Terms

DGRO looks backwards: has this company raised its dividend every year for five years? DGRW looks at the business: is this company highly profitable, and are its earnings expected to grow?

That makes DGRW a quality growth fund that happens to own dividend payers, while DGRO is a dividend growth fund in the traditional sense. DGRW owns newer dividend payers such as NVIDIA and Meta, which DGRO’s five-year rule may exclude.

The result is that DGRW behaves more like a large-company growth fund, with a lower yield, more technology and bigger swings relative to DGRO from year to year.

What DGRW Owns

At the end of August 2026, DGRW’s top 10 holdings were NVIDIA, Microsoft, Apple, Coca-Cola, Meta, UnitedHealth Group, Home Depot, Johnson & Johnson, Oracle and Alphabet. NVIDIA alone made up about 8% of the fund and Microsoft about 7.4%.

Technology was about 39% of the fund, followed by healthcare at about 13%, industrials at about 10% and financials at about 8%. That is a much heavier technology weighting than almost any other dividend ETF.

What DGRO Owns

At the end of September 2026, DGRO’s top 10 holdings were Microsoft, Apple, ExxonMobil, AbbVie, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan Chase, Broadcom, Procter & Gamble, Philip Morris and Home Depot. No single company was above about 3.2% of the fund.

Financials, technology and healthcare each made up a little under a fifth of DGRO, with consumer staples at about 12% to 13%. That spread is far more balanced than DGRW’s.

How Much They Overlap

The two funds share several large names, including Microsoft, Apple, Johnson & Johnson and Home Depot. Older estimates put their overlap at around 60%, but those figures are out of date. Their largest positions are now very different: NVIDIA, Meta, Oracle and Alphabet in DGRW, none of which are among DGRO’s top holdings, and ExxonMobil, AbbVie, JPMorgan Chase and Philip Morris in DGRO.

That difference shows up clearly in their results. In 2023, DGRW returned about 18.7% against DGRO’s 10.5%, while in 2026 DGRO is ahead by almost eight percentage points.

The Cost

This is the biggest single difference between the two funds. DGRW charges an expense ratio of 0.28%, more than three times DGRO’s 0.08%.

On a $100,000 investment, that is $280 a year for DGRW and $80 for DGRO. As an illustration, if both funds earned the same 8% a year before costs, $100,000 would grow to about $984,100 in 30 years at DGRO’s fee and about $930,900 at DGRW’s, a difference of about $53,000 from the fee alone.

DGRW’s returns have so far roughly covered its higher cost, which is why the two have finished level. But the fee gap is the one difference that is certain to continue.

Dividend Yield

DGRO’s recent yield of about 1.9% is well above DGRW’s of about 1.2%. On a $10,000 investment, that is roughly $190 a year from DGRO, against about $120 from DGRW.

DGRW’s low yield comes from its heavy weighting in technology companies such as NVIDIA, Microsoft and Meta, whose dividends are small relative to their share prices. Investors looking for income get noticeably less from DGRW.

DGRW pays its dividends monthly, while DGRO pays quarterly. Monthly payments can suit investors who use dividends to cover regular expenses, though the total paid over a year is what really counts.

Dividend Growth and Reliability

DGRO’s dividend record is the stronger of the two. From 2015 to 2025, DGRO’s dividend per share grew about 8.4% a year, against about 6.8% for DGRW.

DGRO has never had a year when its annual dividend fell. DGRW’s annual payout fell twice, by about 2% in 2020 and about 6% in 2023, and was lower in 2025 than in 2022.

The difference comes from their rules. DGRO requires every holding to have raised its dividend for five years, while DGRW does not require any dividend growth at all, and its annual reweighting can shift weight between companies as their dividends and profits change.

Performance Year by Year

All figures are total returns with dividends reinvested. Over 11 full calendar years, DGRW led in six and DGRO in five, with an average gap of almost 3 percentage points a year.

DGRW built a clear lead from 2020 to 2024, helped by its technology holdings. DGRO then took it back in 2025 and 2026, as the market rotated towards energy, healthcare and consumer staples, leaving the two funds level since 2014.

The Scorecard: 2015 to 2025

Over these 11 full years, DGRW was ahead by about half a percentage point a year. Over the same period, the S&P 500 turned $10,000 into about $39,950, ahead of both.

Rolling Returns

DGRW led in six of the seven five-year periods and in seven of the nine three-year periods. Several of those leads were narrow, but the pattern was consistent until 2026.

That makes DGRO’s 2026 rebound all the more striking. A single strong year for DGRO, and a weaker one for technology-heavy DGRW, erased a lead that had built up over half a decade.

How Each Fund Behaved in Up and Down Markets

DGRW captured more of the market’s gains in strong years, thanks to its technology holdings. DGRO held up slightly better in down years.

Both funds fell roughly half as much as the S&P 500 in its down years. In the 2020 crash, DGRW fell about 32.0% from its January peak, against about 35.1% for DGRO, including dividends.

Which Fund Led in Which Kind of Market

When the largest technology companies lead, DGRW tends to win. When energy, banks, consumer staples or value stocks lead, DGRO usually does.

If You Had Taken the Dividends as Cash

The table below shows what $10,000 invested in each fund at the start of 2015 would have paid out in cash each year, with no dividends reinvested.

DGRO paid more cash in every single year, and the gap has widened since 2022 as DGRW’s payout stalled. Over the 11 years, the DGRO investor collected about $4,210, against about $3,650 from DGRW, and by 2025 was earning about 5.5% a year on the original $10,000, against about 4.1%.

DGRW’s share price grew faster, though. By the end of 2025, the DGRW shares were worth about $28,770 and the DGRO shares about $26,170, so the DGRW investor finished ahead in total at that point, at about $32,420 against $30,380.

In short, DGRW has delivered more of its return through a rising share price, and DGRO more through rising income. That is the clearest way to understand the trade-off between them.

Bear Markets and Crashes

In the 2020 COVID crash, DGRW fell about 32.0% from its January peak and DGRO about 35.1% from its February peak, including dividends. DGRW finished 2020 up about 13.9%, against DGRO’s 9.5%.

In the 2022 bear market, DGRW lost about 6.3% and DGRO about 7.9%. Despite its heavy technology weighting, DGRW’s focus on highly profitable companies helped it hold up well as interest rates rose.

In late 2018, DGRO held up better, losing about 2.4% for the year against DGRW’s 5.4%. FRC’s guide to growth stocks vs value stocks explains why different styles lead in different markets.

Common Questions About DGRW and DGRO

Which has performed better? Since DGRO launched in June 2014, they are level, with $10,000 growing to about $43,760 in DGRW and $43,750 in DGRO by November 2026. DGRW was ahead at the end of 2025, but DGRO’s strong 2026 closed the gap.

Which pays more income? DGRO, at about 1.9% against DGRW’s 1.2%. DGRO also paid more cash every year from 2015 to 2025 on the same $10,000 investment.

Which has the more reliable dividend? DGRO. Its annual payout has risen every year, while DGRW’s fell in 2020 and 2023.

Which is cheaper? DGRO, by a wide margin, at 0.08% a year against DGRW’s 0.28%.

Does DGRW pay monthly? Yes. DGRW pays dividends monthly, while DGRO pays quarterly.

What is DGRW’s dividend growth rate? About 6.8% a year over the 10 years from 2015 to 2025, but only about 4.1% a year over the last five and slightly negative over the last three. Its annual payout fell in 2020 and 2023.

What is DGRO’s 10-year return? About 14.1% a year over the 10 years to late October 2026, with dividends reinvested, close to DGRW’s roughly 14.3%. Over the 10 calendar years from 2016 to 2025, DGRO returned about 13.1% a year and DGRW about 13.7%.

Does DGRO pay a monthly dividend? No. DGRO pays quarterly, usually in March, June, September and December, while DGRW pays every month.

Is DGRO a growth or value ETF? It is usually classed as a large-company blend fund, sitting between growth and value. DGRW leans further towards growth because of its heavy technology weighting.

Is DGRO better than VOO? Not on returns so far. From 2015 to 2025, $10,000 grew to about $39,950 in an S&P 500 fund such as VOO, against about $33,960 in DGRO and $35,960 in DGRW. Both dividend funds offer a higher yield and smaller falls in some downturns in exchange.

Is DGRW a good long-term investment? Its long-term returns have been strong, roughly level with DGRO since 2014 and ahead of most dividend funds. The trade-offs are its 0.28% fee, low yield, heavy technology weighting and a less reliable dividend record.

Which holds more technology? DGRW, with about 39% in technology, including NVIDIA, Microsoft, Apple, Meta, Oracle and Alphabet. DGRO’s technology weighting is less than half that.

Is there any point holding both? Some investors pair them for balance. A 50/50 split from 2015 to 2025 would have grown $10,000 to about $34,990, between the two funds, combining DGRW’s technology exposure with DGRO’s income and broader spread.

How Each Fund Is Taxed

DGRO excludes real estate investment trusts and DGRW holds few of them, so most of both funds’ dividends have been qualified dividends, taxed at the lower long-term capital gains rates. Both have rarely distributed capital gains, as is typical for index ETFs.

With yields below 2%, both produce modest taxable income each year, and DGRW’s lower yield leaves even more of its return as unrealized growth. FRC’s guides to qualified vs non-qualified dividends and how to choose tax-efficient ETFs explain how dividend income is taxed.

Which Investors Each Fund Tends to Suit

DGRW tends to appeal to investors who want quality growth companies, including the largest technology names, with some dividend income and monthly payments. It behaves more like a quality growth fund than a traditional dividend fund.

DGRO tends to appeal to investors who want a traditional dividend growth fund with a higher yield, a steadily rising payout, broader diversification and a much lower cost.

The choice usually comes down to two things: how much technology exposure an investor wants, and whether they value DGRO’s lower fee and more reliable dividend over DGRW’s growth tilt.

How They Compare With Other Dividend ETFs

DGRO is one of the most widely held dividend growth funds, alongside VIG, SCHD and VYM. FRC’s comparisons of DGRO vs VIG, DGRO vs SCHD and DGRO vs VYM cover those pairings.

Investors drawn to DGRW’s technology tilt may also want to compare it with a broad market fund. FRC’s VOO performance history and QQQ performance history show how the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 performed over the same years.

Is Your Money Safe in DGRW and DGRO?

Both funds are regulated investment companies overseen by the SEC, with their holdings kept by independent custodians and separate from WisdomTree’s and BlackRock’s own assets. That structure protects the funds’ assets even if a fund manager runs into trouble.

When you hold either fund at a SIPC member brokerage, your account is protected up to $500,000, including $250,000 in cash, if the brokerage fails and assets are missing. FRC’s guide to is my money safe in a brokerage account? explains how that protection works, and it does not cover market losses.

Keep Learning

The FRC dictionary is more than a dictionary. It is a library of explainer videos, written explanations and on-page quizzes, so you can open any term, such as ex-dividend or diversification, and go deeper whenever something is unclear.

FRC’s Investing for Beginners guide and its guide to dollar-cost averaging vs lump sum are natural next steps for anyone building a dividend portfolio.

The Bottom Line

DGRW and DGRO have finished more than 12 years in a dead heat, but they are very different funds. DGRW is a technology-heavy quality growth fund with a low yield, monthly payouts and a 0.28% fee, while DGRO is a broad, traditional dividend growth fund with a higher yield, a steadily rising payout and a 0.08% fee.

DGRW tends to fit investors who want growth with a dividend tilt, and DGRO those who want reliable, rising income at a low cost. Because their returns have been so close, cost and dividend reliability often decide it.