Manager versus Machine
Active and passive funds compared
Your Manager versus Machine guide for 2025
Our Manager versus Machine report looks at active funds in seven key equity sectors, and compares performance to the average passive fund in the same sectors, rather than a benchmark index. This provides a real world comparison, reflecting the practical investment choice retail investors face between active and passive funds. While benchmark indices are widely used as comparators for active funds, investors can’t buy an index; tracker funds are the nearest they can get.
The latest report finds:
- It’s been an annus horribilis for UK equity fund managers; just 16% outperformed a passive alternative
- 2025 was a game of two halves for active managers in the Global and North America sectors, in which they ultimately ended up on the wrong side of the score board
- Exposure to the Magnificent Seven continues to be a dividing line between active and passive strategies
- Overall in 2025, just 29% of active managers in our sample outperformed a passive alternative, the second lowest reading we have seen since this report was launched
- Over 10 years less than a quarter (24%) of active managers have outperformed the passive machines, a record low reading for this report
- Active funds have seen £121 billion of outflows in the last four years, but the scale of outflows has abated in 2025
Your Manager versus Machine guide for 2025
Our Manager versus Machine report looks at active funds in seven key equity sectors, and compares performance to the average passive fund in the same sectors, rather than a benchmark index. This provides a real world comparison, reflecting the practical investment choice retail investors face between active and passive funds. While benchmark indices are widely used as comparators for active funds, investors can’t buy an index; tracker funds are the nearest they can get.
The latest report finds:
- It’s been an annus horribilis for UK equity fund managers; just 16% outperformed a passive alternative
- 2025 was a game of two halves for active managers in the Global and North America sectors, in which they ultimately ended up on the wrong side of the score board
- Exposure to the Magnificent Seven continues to be a dividing line between active and passive strategies
- Overall in 2025, just 29% of active managers in our sample outperformed a passive alternative, the second lowest reading we have seen since this report was launched
- Over 10 years less than a quarter (24%) of active managers have outperformed the passive machines, a record low reading for this report
- Active funds have seen £121 billion of outflows in the last four years, but the scale of outflows has abated in 2025
Previous Manager versus Machine reports
Remember that the value of investments can change, and you could lose money as well as make it. Forecasts are not a reliable indicator of future performance.
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