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Free Cash Flow Comparator: Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia, Palantir

Compare free cash flow, FCF margin, and capital expenditure intensity across the largest technology companies. Sortable by any metric. Real data sourced from SEC filings.

Primary Query

Which technology companies generate the most free cash flow? Compare FCF rankings, FCF margins, and CapEx intensity across Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia, and Palantir.

Tool Purpose

Free cash flow is the single most important metric for evaluating the cash-generating quality of a business. This comparator shows trailing twelve months (TTM) FCF, FCF margin, operating cash flow, and capital expenditure for the six technology companies with detailed financial history on Visuwire — all sourced from SEC 10-K and 10-Q filings.

Use this tool to:

  • Rank companies by absolute FCF or FCF margin
  • Understand the CapEx drag that separates OCF from FCF (especially for AI infrastructure builders like Alphabet and Microsoft)
  • Enter your own company’s OCF and CapEx to compute FCF and see where it benchmarks against these peers

Inputs

Pre-loaded comparison table (no input required):

  • Company: one of 6 major technology companies with Visuwire historical data
  • Period: trailing twelve months through most recent reported quarter
  • Source: SEC 10-K and 10-Q filings via EDGAR XBRL

Custom calculator inputs:

  • Operating Cash Flow (millions USD)
  • Capital Expenditures (millions USD)
  • Company name (optional label)

Output

  • FCF = Operating Cash Flow − Capital Expenditures
  • FCF Margin = FCF ÷ Revenue × 100%
  • CapEx Intensity = Capital Expenditures ÷ Revenue × 100%
  • OCF/NI Ratio (proxy for earnings quality — OCF well above net income indicates strong non-cash add-backs)
  • Ranked comparison table, sortable by any column
  • Bar chart of FCF and FCF margin across peers

How To Use

  1. Review the peer table — click any column header to sort ascending or descending
  2. Read the bar chart — FCF bars (left axis) and FCF margin line (right axis) show both scale and efficiency
  3. Scroll to the custom calculator — enter any company’s OCF and CapEx to compute its FCF and add it to the comparison
  4. Click company names in the table to navigate to their full FCF history pages on Visuwire
  5. Interpret CapEx intensity — a low FCF margin with high CapEx intensity (like Alphabet at 22.7%) means cash is being reinvested in infrastructure, not that the business is operationally weak

Peer FCF Comparison — TTM through Most Recent Quarter

CompanyRevenue ($M)OCF ($M)CapEx ($M)FCF ($M)FCF Margin %CapEx Intensity %Period

Custom FCF Calculator

Enter any company's operating cash flow and capital expenditures to compute its FCF and see how it ranks against the peer dataset above.

Free Cash Flow —
FCF Margin —
CapEx Intensity —
Peer FCF Rank —

Data source: SEC EDGAR XBRL (10-K / 10-Q filings). TTM = trailing twelve months through most recent reported quarter. Alphabet, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Palantir: 4 quarters ending 2025 Q4. Nvidia: 4 quarters ending 2026 Q1 (fiscal year ends January). All figures in USD millions. CapEx = Operating Cash Flow − Free Cash Flow.

FCF Interpretation Guide

Why Alphabet Has the Lowest FCF Margin Despite the Highest OCF

Alphabet generated $164.7B in operating cash flow in 2025 — the highest of any company in this dataset. But its free cash flow was only $73.3B because it spent $91.4B in capital expenditures — nearly doubling from $52.5B in 2024. This AI infrastructure investment is the single largest driver of CapEx inflation across the Mag-7. The low FCF margin is a policy choice, not an operational weakness. See Alphabet free cash flow history for the quarterly trend.

Why Nvidia Has an Extraordinary FCF Margin

Nvidia’s 44.8% FCF margin reflects its fabless semiconductor model — it designs chips but outsources manufacturing to TSMC, eliminating the need for semiconductor fabrication CapEx. Its $6B in annual CapEx is almost entirely data centers, equipment, and leasehold improvements. This allows nearly all of its operating cash flow to flow through to FCF.

Apple: Highest Absolute FCF

Apple’s $123.3B TTM FCF is the largest in absolute terms in this dataset. This reflects both its enormous revenue scale ($435B) and its relatively low capital expenditure intensity (2.8% of revenue) — asset-light manufacturing via Foxconn and other contract manufacturers. See Apple free cash flow history for the annual trend.

Microsoft: The CapEx Inflection

Microsoft’s FCF margin has been compressed by accelerating Azure data center investment — CapEx hit $83B TTM (27.2% of revenue), second only to Alphabet. This is the Azure AI infrastructure buildout. See Microsoft free cash flow history for the trend showing the CapEx step-up from 2023 onward.

Palantir: Highest FCF Margin, Smallest Scale

Palantir’s 46.9% FCF margin is the highest in this set — reflecting near-zero CapEx ($34M on $4.5B revenue) and a software-pure delivery model. But at $2.1B total FCF, its scale is 59x smaller than Apple’s. The margin is exceptional; the absolute cash generation is still early-stage relative to Mag-7 peers.