Salesforce vs. Palantir: Scale on One Side, Speed on the Other
Salesforce books far more revenue than Palantir, but Palantir is growing its top line much faster. That trade-off between installed scale and growth rate is the whole argument between the two stocks.
Salesforce has generated substantially more revenue than Palantir Technologies over the past two years while Palantir has expanded its top line at a noticeably faster pace, a divide framed by last closes of 234.02 for CRM and 189.67 for PLTR on Sept. 25, 2026.
Two of the most heavily traded enterprise software names in the market are being valued on almost opposite arguments. Salesforce Inc. (CRM) sells more software than Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR) by a wide margin — its revenue base over the past two years is substantially larger. Palantir, meanwhile, is adding to its top line at a noticeably faster clip. Which of those two facts matters more is, in practice, the entire investment debate between the two.
The comparison was laid out by Nasdaq Markets, which weighed the sales totals of both companies across the past two years and found the same split: scale sits with Salesforce, momentum with Palantir.
Where both stocks finished the week
Salesforce ended the session on Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, at 234.02, down 1.76% from the prior close of 238.22 — a decline of 4.20 points. The stock traded between 233.38 and 239.37 during the day and finished near the bottom of that band, which is a weak way to close a week.
Palantir closed at 189.67, off 1.52% from 192.59, a drop of 2.92 points. Its day range ran from 189.35 to 194.21, and like Salesforce it settled close to the session low.
Both fell against a market that rose. The S&P 500 tracker (SPY) closed at $771.35, up 0.54% on the day; the Nasdaq 100 tracker (QQQ) finished at $744.50, up 0.46%; and the Dow 30 tracker (DIA) added 0.94% to $517.49. So this was not a broad software selloff being dragged along by the tape — two large enterprise software names went down on a day the indexes went up. Markets were closed at the time of writing, and these are last traded prices as of 20:00 GMT on Sept. 25.
The revenue gap and the growth gap are not the same argument
A larger revenue base and a faster revenue growth rate pull investors in different directions, and it is worth being precise about why.
Salesforce's advantage is installed scale. A customer relationship management platform embedded across sales, service and marketing teams produces recurring subscription revenue that is hard to displace mid-contract. Scale of that kind tends to translate into predictable renewals, operating leverage on a fixed engineering cost base, and the balance-sheet capacity to buy adjacent products rather than build them. The cost of that maturity is arithmetic: the bigger the base, the harder it is to grow it by a large percentage.
Palantir's advantage is the rate of change. A top line expanding faster than a much larger competitor's implies either new logos arriving quickly, existing accounts expanding their spend, or both. For a company selling data-integration and analytics platforms to government and commercial buyers, growth is usually the signal that the product is landing in new departments and new industries rather than simply renewing where it already sits.
The catch is that a growth rate is a flow, not a stock. It has to be re-earned every quarter, and investors pay in advance for the assumption that it will be. That is where the valuation question comes in.
What the price levels do and do not tell you
Salesforce's last close of 234.02 sits above Palantir's 189.67, but share price alone says nothing about which company is more expensive. Price per share reflects how many shares exist, not what the business is worth. The figures that settle the valuation argument — market capitalization, enterprise value, revenue multiples, free cash flow — are not in the data set here, and no honest comparison can be built by guessing at them.
What can be said from the record: the market has assigned a price to each of these businesses that already reflects the growth gap. Neither stock is a secret. When a fast-growing software company trades at a rich multiple of sales and a mature one trades at a more modest multiple, the investor buying the faster grower is not being handed extra return for free — they are accepting the risk that the growth rate decelerates before the multiple has a chance to normalize.
What can be said from the record: the market has assigned a price to each of these businesses that already reflects the growth gap.
That is the practical framing for anyone choosing between them. The question is not "who is growing faster," because the lead facts already answer it. The question is whether the growth premium already in the price is larger or smaller than the growth that actually arrives.
What to watch in the next reporting cycle
Several things would move the argument meaningfully, and none of them is share price direction over a single session.
- Revenue growth deceleration at Palantir. The faster-growth case depends on the pace holding. A step down in the year-over-year growth rate is the single most damaging data point for a company valued on momentum.
- Acceleration at Salesforce. The mature-scale case gets much stronger if the larger business can show its growth rate improving rather than drifting lower. That would narrow the gap without Palantir having to stumble.
- Customer concentration and mix. For Palantir, the split between government and commercial demand determines how durable the expansion is. Diversified growth is worth more than growth concentrated in a handful of contracts.
- Margins alongside growth. Revenue that arrives with widening operating margins is worth considerably more than revenue bought with rising sales spend. This applies to both names.
- Relative behavior on market up-days. Both stocks closed lower on a session when the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 and Dow all finished higher. If that pattern repeats, it points to something specific to enterprise software rather than to the market's risk appetite overall.
For investors who do not want to pick, the honest answer is that these two names are not substitutes. One is a bet on an entrenched revenue base compounding steadily; the other is a bet on a smaller base compounding quickly enough to close the distance. Owning both is a position on enterprise software as a category. Owning one is a position on which of those two paths the market is currently underpricing.
Key facts
- CRM last close: 234.02, -1.76% (as of Sept. 25, 2026, 20:00 GMT)
- PLTR last close: 189.67, -1.52% (as of Sept. 25, 2026, 20:00 GMT)
- Revenue scale: Salesforce generated substantially more revenue than Palantir over the past two years
- Growth rate: Palantir is expanding its top line at a noticeably faster pace
Frequently asked questions
Which company generates more revenue, Salesforce or Palantir?
Salesforce generates substantially more revenue than Palantir Technologies. Looking at sales totals across the past two years, Salesforce's top line is materially larger. Palantir, however, is expanding its revenue at a noticeably faster pace, which is the core tension investors face when comparing the two enterprise software companies against each other.
How did CRM and PLTR shares close on September 25, 2026?
Salesforce closed at 234.02, down 1.76% from a prior close of 238.22, with a day range of 233.38 to 239.37. Palantir closed at 189.67, down 1.52% from 192.59, with a day range of 189.35 to 194.21. Both finished near their session lows.
Did the broader market fall that day too?
No. The S&P 500 tracker SPY closed at $771.35, up 0.54%. The Nasdaq 100 tracker QQQ closed at $744.50, up 0.46%. The Dow 30 tracker DIA closed at $517.49, up 0.94%. Both Salesforce and Palantir declined on a day when all three major benchmarks finished higher.
Does Salesforce's higher share price mean it is more expensive than Palantir?
No. Share price reflects how many shares a company has issued, not what the business is worth. Comparing valuation requires market capitalization, enterprise value, revenue multiples and cash flow figures. A stock trading at 234.02 can be cheaper on those measures than one trading at 189.67, or more expensive — price alone does not settle it.
Why does faster revenue growth usually command a higher valuation?
Investors pay in advance for expected future revenue. A company compounding its top line quickly is priced on where that line is expected to be in several years, not where it is now. The risk is that the growth rate decelerates before the elevated multiple has time to normalize, which can produce sharp price declines even when the business is still expanding.
What should investors watch next in this comparison?
The key items are whether Palantir's growth rate holds or decelerates, whether Salesforce's growth rate improves from its larger base, the mix between government and commercial demand at Palantir, and whether revenue growth at either company arrives with widening operating margins rather than rising sales spend.
