ALPHABET INC. vs ServiceNow, Inc., two Software stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Alphabet nets 27 cents on the sales dollar and ServiceNow nets 13, and that single spread frames the pair, an advertising-and-cloud giant that already runs at scale against a subscription platform still spending into its growth. The market inverts the comfort, though, pricing ServiceNow at 60 times trailing earnings and Alphabet at 38, paying the higher multiple for the lower margin on a bet about the climb still ahead. Alphabet earns 24% on equity carrying almost no debt, a 0.17 ratio, while ServiceNow earns 15% on none, so both returns are honest rather than engineered. ServiceNow does turn more price into free cash, a 4.36% yield to Alphabet's 1.46%. Alphabet adds a token 0.23% dividend; ServiceNow pays nothing and reinvests it all.
Comparison updated 2026-06-15.
| Metric | GOOGL | NOW |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $357.17 | $107.68 |
| Market cap | $4.37T | $112.0B |
| Sector | Software | Software |
| Stage | Mature | Growth |
| P/E | 27.2 | 64.1 |
| P/B | 9.13 | 9.55 |
| P/S | 10.35 | 8.02 |
| EV/EBITDA | 29.9 | 40.8 |
| Revenue growth | +17.4% | +21.7% |
| Gross margin | — | 75.1% |
| Operating margin | 36.1% | 13.3% |
| Net margin | 27.1% | 12.6% |
| Return on equity | 23.9% | 15.0% |
| Return on assets | 16.3% | 7.2% |
| Return on invested capital | 20.0% | 9.9% |
| FCF yield | 1.5% | 4.1% |
| Dividend yield | 0.2% | — |
| Debt / equity | 0.17 | 0.13 |
| Current ratio | 1.92 | 0.84 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 7.72 | 6.20 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 4 / 9 | 7 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.