CAGE vs ZEQT: how the new Avantis ETF stacks up against BMO's all-equity

Short answer: CAGE.TO is a new factor-tilted all-equity ETF from CIBC and Avantis, listed on the TSX in March 2026. ZEQT is BMO’s cap-weighted all-equity all-in-one, listed in January 2022. CAGE costs about 7 basis points more (0.28% management fee versus ZEQT’s 0.21% MER) and runs a deliberate value, size, and profitability tilt. ZEQT is a cleaner, lower-cost expression of “buy the global market by size” through BMO’s index ETFs. The choice is factor-tilted active versus cap-weighted indexing, not better versus worse.

ZEQT has been the quiet third option in the cap-weighted all-equity bucket. XEQT and VEQT get most of the attention, but ZEQT has built a credible track record since 2022 with the lowest MER in the category. If you’re already holding it, you’ve made a deliberate call: simple, cap-weighted, low cost.

CAGE.TO is a different bet. Same one-ticker, all-equity, globally-diversified job, but with the Avantis factor methodology layered on top. The question for ZEQT holders is whether that’s worth paying for.

This is not financial advice. I’m sharing what I’ve learned from my own research, and your situation might be different from mine. Fund details change over time, so always check the latest disclosures before making a decision.

What CAGE actually is

CAGE.TO is an all-equity, globally diversified ETF listed on the TSX on March 18, 2026. CIBC manages the Canadian wrapper. Avantis Investors, a unit of American Century, designs and runs the strategy.

It’s structured as a fund-of-funds, holding a basket of underlying Avantis equity ETFs that cover U.S., international developed, emerging, and Canadian stocks. The headline numbers: 100% equities, unhedged, 0.28% management fee. The full MER hasn’t been published yet because Canadian regulators don’t require it in a fund’s first year.

The thing that makes CAGE different from ZEQT is the strategy. CAGE is rules-based active, with a deliberate tilt toward value, smaller, and profitability. ZEQT is broadly cap-weighted indexing.

For the deeper walkthrough of CAGE on its own, see the CAGE ETF explained guide.

What ZEQT is, briefly

ZEQT is BMO’s all-equity all-in-one ETF, listed on the TSX in January 2022. It’s a cap-weighted fund-of-funds that holds underlying BMO index ETFs across U.S., international developed, emerging, and Canadian stocks. The MER is 0.21%, the lowest of the major Canadian all-equity all-in-ones.

ZEQT’s pitch is straightforward: own the global market by size, in one ticker, at the lowest possible cost. It rebalances quarterly back to its target geographic weights. There’s no factor tilt, no active layer, no philosophy beyond “the market knows.”

If you already hold ZEQT, you probably picked it for some combination of three reasons: BMO is your bank, the MER is the lowest in the category, or you wanted a slightly less crowded alternative to XEQT.

What “factor tilt” actually means

This is the part that matters. Without it, the comparison doesn’t make sense.

ZEQT owns the global stock market roughly in proportion to size. The biggest companies, like Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia, get the biggest weights. CAGE owns a similar global universe but applies three deliberate tilts on top of cap weighting:

• Value. Cheaper companies relative to their fundamentals (book value, earnings, cash flow) get more weight than they would in a cap-weighted index.
• Size. Smaller companies get more weight than market cap alone would give them. Not “small-cap only,” just less concentration in megacaps.
• Profitability. Reliably profitable companies get included or overweighted. Chronically unprofitable ones get filtered or down-weighted.

The academic case goes back to Eugene Fama and Kenneth French in the early 1990s, with Robert Novy-Marx adding the profitability piece in 2013. Decades of data suggest these factors have rewarded patient investors over very long horizons.

The honest caveat: “very long” can mean a long time. Factor-tilted portfolios can underperform broad cap-weighted indices for ten years or more at a stretch. Anyone moving from ZEQT to CAGE has to be willing to sit through stretches of trailing the cap-weighted version without flinching.

CAGE vs ZEQT side-by-side

A row by row look. A few cells say “not yet published” because CAGE has weeks of trading history and CIBC hasn’t released full disclosure on every line item yet.

The cost gap is about 7 basis points at the headline level. That’s a wider gap than CAGE has against XEQT (which sits at roughly 0.20% MER after BlackRock’s December 2025 fee cut) or VEQT (around 0.24% MER). ZEQT is the cheapest cap-weighted all-in-one in the category, so the relative cost of choosing CAGE looks bigger here.

What ZEQT does well

A few things worth naming directly, because they’re easy to take for granted:

• Lowest MER in the category. 0.21% is hard to argue with. Over decades, that compounds.
• Real track record now. Four years of trading data, including the 2022 drawdown and the 2024 recovery. The wrapper has been through real conditions.
• Genuinely simple. No factor decisions, no philosophy to defend, no underperformance windows to explain to yourself.
• BMO’s index ETFs underneath. ZSP, ZEA, ZCN, ZEM. Solid, well-run, large pools.

If “low cost, broad market, one ticker, leave me alone” is the brief, ZEQT delivers it as well as anything in the Canadian-listed universe.

What CAGE adds, if you believe in it

CAGE is the same job (one ticker, all equities, globally diversified) with a deliberate factor overlay. The pitch:

• Value, size, and profitability tilts that have historically rewarded patient investors over very long horizons.
• The Avantis methodology that’s built a strong reputation in the U.S. and on Rational Reminder.
• Canadian wrapper so you don’t need a USD account to hold the strategy.

Whether that’s worth 7 basis points more depends entirely on whether you believe in the factor thesis. If you do, CAGE expresses it cleanly. If you don’t, the extra cost is just extra cost.

Things to think about before switching

1. The strategy can underperform for years. Factor-tilted portfolios have stretches where they trail cap-weighted indices by a lot. That’s not a flaw, it’s how factor investing works. Anyone considering CAGE has to be honest about whether they’d still hold through five-plus years of trailing ZEQT.

2. CAGE is brand new in Canada. Avantis has a U.S. track record going back to 2019, but the Canadian-listed wrapper has weeks of history. Distribution patterns, fund-of-funds tax flow, and how the wrapper handles flows are still being established.

3. The cost gap is real. 7 basis points compounds. On a $100,000 portfolio, that’s roughly $70 a year, every year. Over 30 years with growth, the cumulative drag is meaningful. The factor premium has to outweigh that drag for the trade to be worth it.

4. Tax behaviour will reveal itself over the first full year. CAGE is a fund-of-funds wrapping U.S.-listed Avantis ETFs. Foreign withholding tax, capital gains distributions, and how the layers interact in non-registered accounts won’t be fully visible until the first T3 cycle.

Frequently asked questions

Is CAGE better than ZEQT?

Different, not better. ZEQT is a cap-weighted index portfolio at 0.21% MER, which makes it the cheapest all-equity all-in-one in Canada. CAGE is factor-tilted at a 0.28% management fee, with the full MER yet to be published. If you believe in the factor thesis (value, size, profitability tilts) and can hold through stretches of underperformance, CAGE is a way to express that view in one ticker. If you don’t, ZEQT’s lower cost and simpler approach is hard to beat.

What’s the cost difference between CAGE and ZEQT?

ZEQT’s MER is 0.21%. CAGE’s management fee is 0.28%, with the full MER not yet published because of Canadian first-year disclosure rules. The headline gap is about 7 basis points. Once CAGE’s full MER is disclosed, expect it to land a few basis points above 0.28%, widening the gap slightly.

Should I switch from ZEQT to CAGE?

Only if you have a real view on factor investing. The 7-basis-point fee gap, the early-stage Canadian track record, and the years-long stretches where factor tilts can underperform are all reasons to think carefully before swapping. If you don’t have a strong view, staying with ZEQT is reasonable.

Can I hold CAGE and ZEQT together?

You can, but you’d be holding two overlapping all-equity wrappers with different philosophies. Most of the time, the cleaner move is to pick one and stick with it. If you really want both, the more useful pairing is a cap-weighted core (ZEQT or XEQT) with a smaller, deliberate factor sleeve (CAGE or one of the Avantis CIBC tilt-specific funds), rather than a 50/50 split between two all-in-ones.

Why is ZEQT cheaper than CAGE?

ZEQT is cap-weighted indexing through BMO’s own index ETFs. The methodology is simpler, the underlying funds are large and cheap to run, and the wrapper has been at scale for several years. CAGE runs an active rules-based strategy through underlying Avantis funds, which costs more to build and operate. Some of the gap is the strategy itself, some is the early-stage scale of the Canadian wrapper.

Is CAGE riskier than ZEQT?

In the official sense, both are 100% equity ETFs and CIBC has rated CAGE “Medium” risk tolerance. Practically, CAGE’s factor tilt means it’ll diverge from broad market returns more than ZEQT will. That divergence cuts both ways: it can outperform during periods that favour value, smaller, and profitable companies, and underperform when the megacap, growth, or unprofitable end of the market is leading. ZEQT will more closely track the cap-weighted global market by design.

Bottom line

ZEQT is the cheapest, simplest cap-weighted all-equity all-in-one in Canada. If “buy the global market by size” is the brief, it’s a strong default.

CAGE is the same one-ticker job with the Avantis factor strategy layered in. Worth roughly 7 basis points more only if you actually want the factor exposure and can hold it through years where it doesn’t work.

If you don’t have a strong view on factor investing, you probably don’t need CAGE. If you do, holding it instead of ZEQT (not alongside it) is the cleaner expression.