Alphabet's 2 Classes of Common Stock Trade About 1% Apart. Here's the One I'd Buy.

Buying Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)(NASDAQ:GOOG) stock gives you a choice most stocks don't offer. The Google parent has two classes of common shares on the Nasdaq. Its Class A shares trade under the ticker GOOGL, and its Class C shares trade as GOOG.

As of this writing, the Class A stock is around $335 and the Class C stock about $331. That puts the voting class about 1% higher. And the extra cash buys only one thing: a vote.

Anyone buying Meta Platforms stock will soon have the same choice. On Oct. 21, the social media company said it plans to add a non-voting Class C stock of its own, starting Jan. 19, 2027.

Image source: Getty Images.

What's a Class A vote worth?

Technically, Alphabet has three classes of common stock. Class A shares carry one vote apiece. Class B shares, which don't trade publicly, carry 10 votes each. And Class C shares carry no votes at all, except when the law requires one.

Everything else is the same.

In its latest quarterly filing, Alphabet said the rights of its Class A, Class B, and Class C holders, "including the liquidation and dividend rights," are identical other than voting. Not only do all three classes get the same 22-cent quarterly dividend, but every share also has the same claim to Alphabet's net income.

What counts more is who owns the Class B shares. As of April 6, co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin together had around 53% of Alphabet's total voting power, according to the company's latest proxy statement.

Alphabet's annual report says the stake gives them the ability to elect all its directors and decide most issues put to a shareholder vote. It adds that handing out non-voting Class C stock, including as employee pay, can help keep the founders' share of the vote the same.

Put another way, as long as their stake stays over half, the founders can outvote all other shareholders combined. For an everyday investor, I think that leaves the Class A vote nearly symbolic.

A shifting gap

The 1% gap isn't a constant, either. A year ago, the Class A stock traded just below the Class C stock.

In fact, from 2020 through 2025, the non-voting shares usually cost a bit more. Class C closed above Class A every trading day in 2023 and 2024. Class A only moved ahead again this spring, and its premium has sat near 1% since September.

A likely reason is that Alphabet itself had been a huge buyer of its Class C stock. From 2023 through 2025, the company spent about $142 billion repurchasing Class C shares, versus about $28 billion on Class A shares. It chose between the two partly on "the relative trading prices and volumes" of each class, according to its annual report.

Then the buying ended. Alphabet repurchased no shares of either class in the first half of 2026, a stretch in which it sold new stock and borrowed a lot as it stepped up its artificial intelligence (AI) build-out.

Notably, when Alphabet sold new stock in June, it sold equal amounts of both classes -- 29 million Class A shares for around $355 each and 29 million Class C shares for about $352. That, too, was a gap of about 1%.

Class C is the better buy

Paying more for the Class A shares makes sense mostly for investors who want a say in how Alphabet is run. With the founders holding a majority of the vote, I don't think that say matters much now.

The discount on Class C, though, means buying the same business at a slightly lower valuation. For a $10,000 investment, picking Class C over Class A buys around a third of a share more -- about $114 worth of extra stock in the same business. And whatever Alphabet reports on Wednesday, Oct. 28, when it posts its third-quarter results, both classes share in it equally.

Of course, the gap might keep growing, and anybody buying Class C now would lag Class A holders by the difference. But the gap has held within around 2% in either direction since 2022. And if Alphabet resumes buying back Class C stock, the gap might shrink in Class C holders' favor.

Which class would I buy, then? I'd pick the Class C shares.

I think Alphabet is a top stock to buy either way. But I don't see a reason to pay about 1% more for a vote that, for now, doesn't change much.

Daniel Sparks and his clients do not have positions in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.