Stocks — 5-year review

META vs. GOOG: who performed better over the last 5 years?

Two ad-driven tech giants, one $10,000 starting line. The company most people remember for a brutal 2022 crash isn’t actually the one that came out ahead.

$10,000 in Meta on September 7, 2021 would have grown to $16,138 by September 4, 2026 — a 61.4% return. The same $10,000 in Alphabet over the identical five years would have grown to $23,042 — a 130.4% return. Despite Meta’s reputation for the more dramatic stock story of the two, Alphabet’s steadier climb more than doubled Meta’s return over this specific window.

	Starting price	Ending price	5-yr return
META	$382.18	$616.77	+61.4%
GOOG	$145.52	$335.31	+130.4%

(Alphabet’s starting price is split-adjusted — Google executed a 20-for-1 stock split in July 2022, so this figure reflects what a single share was equivalently worth in 2021, not the roughly $2,900 sticker price on a brokerage screen at the time.)

Why the more dramatic story didn’t win

Meta’s five-year chart is the more memorable of the two: the stock lost over 70% of its value during 2022 amid concerns over slowing ad growth and heavy Reality Labs spending, then staged a sharp recovery through 2023 and beyond. Alphabet’s chart over the same period is far less dramatic — a steadier, more consistent climb without a comparable collapse.

That steadiness is exactly why Alphabet came out ahead here. Meta had to claw back a deep hole before it could start compounding gains again, while Alphabet’s more modest swings meant it spent the entire five years compounding from a higher base. A wilder chart with a strong recovery doesn’t automatically beat a steadier one — it depends heavily on how deep the dip was and how much of the window was spent recovering from it versus growing.

Past performance isn’t a preview

Both companies remain dominant, profitable advertising businesses today, now also racing to build out AI infrastructure and products. Which one performs better over the next five years depends on a different set of questions — how each company’s AI investments pay off, regulatory pressure on both companies’ core ad and search businesses, and competitive dynamics that didn’t exist in the same form five years ago.

Try your own comparison

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Figures shown reflect historical closing prices only and exclude dividends, fees, taxes, and reinvestment. Past performance does not guarantee future results. This article is for educational purposes only and is not personalized financial or investment advice.