Microsoft vs Alphabet
The decelerating giant re-accelerated on AI — Azure +41% and a $37B AI run-rate — while capex at 35% of revenue quietly compresses the free cash flow that funds it. The AI-era search moat, reproducing itself.
Alphabet by 10
| Item | Max | Microsoft | Alphabet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blitz Index total | / 100 | 73 | 83 |
| Grade | — | B | A |
| A · Speed | / 25 | 18 | 21 |
| B · Moat | / 60 | 48 | 52 |
| C · Creative destruction | / 15 | 10 | 15 |
| D · Demerits | / 30 | -3 | -5 |
The success line is 65. Demerits (section D) are subtracted; a demerit total of 15 or more flags a company for BlitzFailing watch. Scores as of the 2026 Q4 review.
Verdict — business structure only
Alphabet leads on every axis (83 vs 73). Google's moat (52) is the deeper of the two, built on the search data flywheel and a 15% cloud share, while Microsoft's moat (48) is a composite lock-in (Windows, M365, GitHub, LinkedIn). Google is faster (21 vs 18) with Cloud +82%, while Microsoft re-accelerated to +17.8% at $331.8B scale. Google's creative destruction (15, a perfect score) reflects AI Overviews displacing classic search, while Microsoft's 10 reflects Copilot's early delegation of work. The structural difference is that Google is displacing its own core product while Microsoft is layering AI onto an installed base.
Key figures
| Microsoft | Figure |
|---|---|
| Revenue | $331.8B scale |
| Growth | +17.8%; Azure +41% |
| Alphabet | Figure |
|---|---|
| Revenue | $446B scale |
| Growth | Q2 2026 +24% YoY; Cloud +82% |
| Gross margin | ~60% |
Key figures are from the companies' published score files (the scorecard's English summary). A figure is shown only where the score file states it.
Full scorecards: Microsoft — Blitz Index 73 · Alphabet — Blitz Index 83
Latest research — Alphabet: read the article
Run your own pairing: open this pair in the interactive compare tool, or pick any two of the 157 scored companies.
How to read this
Both companies passed the same two gates before scoring: real product-market traction (G1), and a ten-year market ceiling of at least ten times current revenue (G2). The Blitz Index then grades speed (25), moat (60) and creative destruction (15), and subtracts BlitzFailing demerits (up to −30) for debt, revenue quality, governance and regulatory cost. The model is frozen at v1.0; past scores are never silently rewritten. Our own pre-registered tests found the score measures business quality — it does not predict stock returns.
Research only — not investment advice. Scores measure blitzscaling strategy from public data. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security.