Google 401(k): match, after-tax savings, and mega backdoor Roth

The match and the limits

That match formula is what Alphabet’s 2026 proxy reports for 2025, and it vests immediately — there is no schedule to wait out. The ceiling moves with the federal deferral limit: $11,250 in 2023, $11,750 in 2025. Confirm this year’s in your benefits portal.[31][33]

Does Google have a mega backdoor Roth?

Yes, and the first half is automatic: once your pre-tax and Roth deferrals hit the elective-deferral limit, the plan starts taking 6% of your pay as after-tax contributions on its own, where most plans make you opt in.[31][33] Moving that money into Roth is the step you take yourself, through an in-plan conversion or withdrawal at Vanguard, the plan’s recordkeeper.[12]

Two things to check before you lean on it: that the conversion route is open to you under this year’s plan terms, and how earnings on the after-tax money are treated when you convert. Neither the proxy nor the plan’s audited statements describe the conversion mechanics, which is exactly why you confirm them. After-tax dollars get no match either way.[8][33]

How the plan is built

From the plan’s 2023 annual return to the Department of Labor, with its audited financial statements, and Google’s 2026 award application to PLANSPONSOR. The plan document governs.[33][12]

Google’s own figures in its 2026 application, as published by PLANSPONSOR: $62.4 billion in assets and 162,000 participants. The audited 2023 return shows $39.0 billion, 149,762 participants at the start of the year, and $3.42 billion contributed by employees against $1.23 billion by the company.[12][33]

The room you have in 2026

$24,500 of your own deferrals, within a $72,000 cap on everything that goes in, which the company match also draws on. Only the first $360,000 of pay counts toward contributions, and your plan can set tighter limits than the federal ones.[7][26]

Turning 50 or older in 2026? Catch-up is another $8,000, or $11,250 between ages 60 and 63. If you earned more than $150,000 last year from the same employer, the IRS requires the catch-up portion to go in as Roth — that rule covers catch-up only, not your regular deferrals.[7][25]

Maxing every box is only a win if the remaining cash flow still works. Weigh today’s tax rate against the one you expect later, your reserves, and a partner’s plan before you push contributions to the limit.

If you changed employers this year. The $24,500 deferral limit is yours, not the plan’s: it counts contributions to every 401(k) you had in the year. Tell Vanguard what you already deferred at the old employer so the Google plan stops at the right number, because an excess has to be pulled back out with its earnings. The match here applies only to what you contribute here. The plan accepts rollovers from a previous employer’s plan; compare the fees and the fund menus before you move an old balance, and do not roll a loan you cannot repay.[7][33]

Beyond the 401(k). The proxy lists what every employee gets alongside it: medical, dental, and vision plans, flexible spending accounts, life, accidental death, disability, and travel insurance with the life premiums paid by the company, a survivor income benefit, a matching gift program, and paid time off. Each has an election date worth putting on the same calendar as your vests.[31]