Which was the better investment since 2015, Alphabet (Google) or Microsoft?

Microsoft was the better investment. $1,000 invested in Microsoft in 2015 would be worth $13,555 today, compared to $13,368 for Alphabet (Google).

What would $1,000 in Alphabet (Google) vs Microsoft be worth today?

$1,000 invested in Alphabet (Google) in 2015 would be worth $13,368 today (+1236.8%). The same $1,000 in Microsoft would be worth $13,555 (+1255.5%).

How do Alphabet (Google) and Microsoft compare to the S&P 500 since 2015?

The same $1,000 invested in the S&P 500 in 2015 would be worth $4,534 today (+353.4%). Alphabet (Google) returned $13,368 and Microsoft returned $13,555 over the same period.

Alphabet (Google) vs Microsoft: $1,000 invested since 2015

GOOGL vs MSFT · Data through 2026-07-01

Investment amount

$1,000 invested in 2015 would be worth

Alphabet (Google)

$13,368

+1236.8%

MicrosoftWinner

$13,557

+1255.7%

The same $1,000 in the S&P 500 would be worth $4,534(+353.4%)

Growth of $1,000

Alphabet (Google) vs. Microsoft vs. S&P 500, 2015 to present

Year-by-year comparison

Alphabet (Google) vs. Microsoft, 2015 to present

Year	Alphabet (Google)	Return	Microsoft	Return	S&P 500
2015	$1,000	-	$1,000	-	$1,000
2016	$1,416	+41.6%	$1,401	+40.1%	$991
2017	$1,526	+7.7%	$1,689	+20.6%	$1,189
2018	$2,199	+44.1%	$2,537	+50.2%	$1,502
2019	$2,094	-4.8%	$2,837	+11.8%	$1,466
2020	$2,665	+27.3%	$4,693	+65.4%	$1,780
2021	$3,399	+27.5%	$6,463	+37.7%	$2,086
2022	$5,034	+48.1%	$8,738	+35.2%	$2,570
2023	$3,677	-26.9%	$7,028	-19.6%	$2,359
2024	$5,213	+41.7%	$11,375	+61.9%	$2,845
2025	$7,618	+46.2%	$11,964	+5.2%	$3,591
2026	$12,671	+66.3%	$12,495	+4.4%	$4,178

Which came out ahead

From a $1,000 stake at the start of 2015, Microsoft (MSFT) came out ahead of Alphabet (Google) (GOOGL). That $1,000 grew to $13,555 in MSFT versus $13,368 in GOOGL as of 2026-07-01, roughly $187 more in the end.

In total-return terms the order is clear. Microsoft returned +1255.5% against Alphabet (Google) at +1236.8%, a gap of about 18.7 percentage points over the 11.7-year window. Compounded, that is about 25% a year for MSFT against 24.9% for GOOGL.

Both holdings beat a plain S&P 500 fund over the same span, which would have turned that $1,000 into about $4,534 at roughly 13.8% a year. All figures use split-adjusted closing prices and exclude dividends, taxes, fees, and inflation, so a real after-tax result would differ.

This is a record of what already happened, not financial advice or a recommendation of either name. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

Other start years

Alphabet (Google) vs Microsoft from a different starting point

Since 2005 Since 2010 Since 2020 Since 2023

Individual stock pages

Alphabet (Google) since 2015+1236.8%Microsoft since 2015+1255.5%

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For informational and educational purposes only. Not financial advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All calculations are based on split-adjusted closing prices from Yahoo Finance and do not account for dividends, taxes, or trading fees. See our methodology and full disclaimer.