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Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services vs Oracle OBIEE comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft SQL Server Report...
Ranking in Reporting
6th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Oracle OBIEE
Ranking in Reporting
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
157
Ranking in other categories
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Reporting category, the mindshare of Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is 3.5%, down from 4.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle OBIEE is 5.0%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Reporting
 

Featured Reviews

Gnanavel-Chakkarapani - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers useful templates but needs to improve the connectivity offered
In Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, not much of the interface part is used. With Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, its users face issues with the interface after they use Excel or create Microsoft SSIS Packages. The tool's interface is an area of concern requiring improvement. There needs to be an improvement in the product's connectivity so that the tool can connect easily with other third-party databases. In the dashboard, drag and drop functionality needs to improve, especially when compared to other tools like IBM Cognos Analytics and Qlik Sense. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is useful only for standard reports. In IBM Cognos Analytics, query studio can be used by users to drag the data and simply download the reports, so the user doesn't need to have any technical knowledge like developers. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is to be improved to offer features like query Studio, which is provided in IBM Cognos Analytics.
VishnuReddy - PeerSpot reviewer
Handles large datasets and easy to interact with and handle but performance could be better
Oracle's technical support usually recommends to upgrade when you contact them for support. They don't focus on fixing the issue at hand or providing guidance on how to do it. If you are in a lower environment, like one version down, they will blindly suggest upgrading. Additional patches are given for other Oracle products like WebLogic, databases, and apps. They fix issues and create patches based on client needs. But from an OBIEE point of view, they mostly provide bundle patches of around 5 to 6 GB that need to be applied and tested end-to-end. It's not an easy way to get small patches, and if issues arise after applying the patches, you have to contact Oracle again.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"We can create quality reports in real time."
"The initial setup is easy."
"It is a stable solution."
"It is scalable."
"The tool's valuable features are its drill-down feature, graphs, and charts."
"We were able to embed the report builder within our internal proprietary systems, improving our reporting capabilities."
"Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services has been functional whenever I needed to use it."
"I am impressed with the product's seamless integration. It can work with different databases like Oracle."
"It doesn't have many frills and is definitely older technology, but it is undeniably a workhorse."
"It can be used with any type of data models, such as relational lines and dimensional lines."
"User-friendly look and feel."
"They were reasonable in terms of price."
"The most valuable features are the lexical parameters and distribution."
"Dashboards provide us with various views and perspectives on our data, allowing us to analyze metrics such as revenue, occupancy rates, etc."
"The most valuable feature of Oracle OBIEE, for me, would be the Web Catalog. From a development perspective, I do not need any client or any software to be installed on my laptop or desktop. Everything is browser-based, so I just open the browser and start development."
"There are a lot of functions in the product, including a drill-down functionality and level-based hierarchies that are very attractive."
 

Cons

"Sometimes, we need to make sure that the configuration stays consistent across the reporting instances. They all connect to the same database. So, it shares that same backend, but the reporting services itself can also be configured. On the application level, for reporting level. And it is, based on my own experience, it is a manual effort to make sure that the reporting servers are configured the same across the environment."
"We have had issues with the refresh interval since we have too many reports scheduled. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is also expensive."
"Tableau is more user-friendly because it doesn't need to do any extra programming. It has drag-and-drop functionality."
"I would like the solution to add the scheduling feature for reports."
"Technical support is in minor need of improvement so that they can solve problems in a more timely manner."
"The product could be improved by reducing the time it takes to build and deploy reports."
"We encounter some barriers while trying to build a report."
"It doesn't have quite the flexibility of a Tableau or something like that. Many users are more comfortable with Tableau and I'm not quite sure why that is right now, but it seems to be the case."
"There could be better integration with other solutions, such as Microsoft Office."
"It crashes when many people login simultaneously."
"The main problem we face is migrating all of the reports into the solution."
"From an improvement perspective, the technical team should be able to provide more accurate answers by taking into consideration the context of the issues faced by users."
"It's not so flexible to do BI reporting directly from the data source without models. It is not that agile."
"We were not satisfied with the support, because we could not obtain answers or solutions."
"There are times we have slowness when processing the reports with Oracle OBIEE. Improving the performance would be beneficial."
"Supply chain and finance."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Value-wise, the solution's pricing is good for the price that we pay."
"The pricing is high."
"The product pricing is reasonable in terms of suitable features for business."
"The solution is free to use for developers."
"The solution is cheaper than its alternatives."
"The price is pretty good."
"The solution is expensive."
"The tool's licensing costs are expensive."
"The licensing cost is based on the number of users using it."
"Be prepared to spend a lot of time and money."
"If you compare Qlik Sense and Oracle OBIEE licensing, then Oracle products are much better. With Qlik Sense, you have to pay per client and per use. But we get Oracle OBIEE along with the Oracle database, making it much more cost-effective in the long term."
"Its licensing is yearly."
"The company had twenty-five Oracle OBIEE licenses and never expanded. Price-wise, the solution is expensive."
"The price of Oracle OBIEE is expensive, it is difficult for a small business to afford."
"Oracle products are extremely expensive."
"It is an expensive solution."
report
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Comparison Review

it_user79932 - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 4, 2015
Comparison of SAP BO, Tableau, QlikView, Cognos, Microsoft, OBIEE and Pentaho
1. SAP BO/BI Enterprise scalability Security Ease of use Semantic layer 2. Tableau Visualization Data discovery Turnaround time 3. IBM Cognos Enterprise scalability Security In-memory feature 4. MS BI - Flexibility 5. Pentaho - Open source but still enterprise grade 6. QlikView Data…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
12%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Government
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services?
I mainly use the solution for the ease of reporting and for executive dashboards.
What needs improvement with Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services?
They could improve the scalability and stability of SQL Server Reporting Services. I haven't used it recently, so I can't provide detailed suggestions on improvements.
How does Oracle OBIEE compare with Microsoft BI?
Oracle OBIEE is great in allowing design and creativity per the individual needs of the organization. Dashboards are fully customizable and very user-friendly. This solution is very stable. Oracle ...
Which Oracle product is better - OBIEE or Analytics Cloud?
Oracle OBIEE is designed to be relatively easy to set up and has a helpful customer support staff at the ready to assist customers. These are two attributes that make this system quite valuable. OB...
What do you like most about Oracle OBIEE?
The most valuable feature of Oracle OBIEE is its ability to handle large volumes of data and provide traditional BI functionalities that developers can easily understand.
 

Also Known As

SQL Server Reporting Services, Microsoft SSRS, SSRS, MS SQL Server Reporting Services
OBIEE, Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition, Oracle BI, Oracle BI EE 11g
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CMS Wire, The New York Times
Banca Transilvania, BeckmanCoulter, Hong Kong Housing Society, HealthShare, Ivanhoe Cambridge Unifies, and Home Credit, and Finance Bank.
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services vs. Oracle OBIEE and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.