Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services vs Pentaho Business Analytics comparison

Microsoft and Hitachi Vantara are both solutions in the Reporting category. Microsoft is ranked #6 with an average rating of 7.9, while Hitachi Vantara is ranked #16 with an average rating of 8.3. Microsoft holds a 3.6% mindshare in RT, compared to Hitachi Vantara’s 1.1% mindshare. Additionally, 84% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of Hitachi Vantara users who would recommend it.

Microsoft SQL Server Report...

Read 20 Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services reviews

3,123 Views
2,137 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

Pentaho Business Analytics

Read 43 Pentaho Business Analytics reviews

827 Views
618 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

Microsoft SQL Server Report...

Pentaho Business Analytics

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services and Pentaho Business Analytics based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Reporting solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services vs. Pentaho Business Analytics Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft SQL Servering Services vs. Pentaho Business Analytics

January 2025

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Helped 838,713 peers since 2012

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

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Pentaho Business Analytics

Ranking in Reporting

16th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (19th), Cloud Operations Analytics (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Reporting category, the mindshare of Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is 3.6%, down from 5.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Pentaho Business Analytics is 1.1%, down from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Reporting

Featured Reviews

Gnanavel-Chakkarapani

Junior Consultant at CMA CGM

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.

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Sayan König

Senior Manager, Financial Services at KPMG

Flexible, easy to understand, and simple to set up

The repository should be improved. There should be the possibility to have versioning, to make it combinable with some Git repositories or something like that, to check out the processes and make sure it has a traceable history. The solution could really be improved. There are too many bugs in our version.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is scalable."

"The solution's features are all just wrapped up in one nice easy package. I don't need a lot of toolsets to get everything I need done."

"The tool's valuable features are its drill-down feature, graphs, and charts."

"We get good support from Microsoft."

"The initial setup is easy."

"I am impressed with the product's seamless integration. It can work with different databases like Oracle."

"It is a stable solution."

"I mainly use the solution for the ease of reporting and for executive dashboards."

More Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services pros

"Pentaho Business Analytics' best features include the ease of developing data flows and the wide range of options to connect to databases, including those on the cloud."

"The initial setup is pretty straightforward."

"We were able to install it without any assistance from tech support."

"The most valuable feature of Pentaho is the Tableau report."

"Pentaho is an analytics platform that can be used when an organization has a lot of big data storage systems already installed and needs to manage and analyze that data. It has a specific use case for unstructured data, such as documents, and needs to be able to search and analyze it."

"Easy to use components to create the job."

"It is robust, offers market intelligence, and utilizes modules effectively."

"I use the BI Server, CDE Dashboards, Saiku, and Kettle, because these tools are very good and highly experienced."

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."

"The complex tuning for report performance is complicated. There is a lack of native support for source code control. We often need to use separate tools like VS Code or other software to manage version control and changes in the database. It would be beneficial if source code management were integrated directly into SSRS, thus eliminating the need to rely on external tools. While CLI-based operations are exemplary, the trend is towards GUI for a better user experience. Integrating both visualization and source code management within SSRS would simplify the process for users."

"We have had issues with the refresh interval since we have too many reports scheduled. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is also expensive."

"There are occasions during maintenance runs when the Check Point monitoring system reports a lot of blocked sessions."

"The product should improve its performance."

"It would be really nice to have better integration between the solution and Power BI."

"Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services needs to improve performance."

"Tableau is more user-friendly because it doesn't need to do any extra programming. It has drag-and-drop functionality."

More Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services cons

"Deployment is not simple. It is not simple because we are dealing with a lot of data; we are dealing with a lot of storage. So, it's not a simple process."

"Pentaho Business Analytics' user interface is outdated."

"The tool is very good, and yet it has some problems as it relies heavily on Java."

"Pentaho, at the general level, should greatly improve the easy construction of its dashboards and easy integration of information from different sources without technical user intervention."

"Version control would be a good addition."

"We did not achieve the ROI. The work delivered to users had lesser value than the subscription cost."

"Another concern is that Pentaho is not customizable or interactive."

"Logging capability is needed."

More Pentaho Business Analytics cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool's licensing costs are expensive."

"The price is pretty good."

"The pricing is high."

"The solution is expensive."

"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."

"Value-wise, the solution's pricing is good for the price that we pay."

"We were lucky enough to find a Pentaho OEM partner who offered a data warehouse model and the ETL software for about 60K SGD per year."

"Pentaho is expensive ."

"Free and commercial versions are available."

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Comparison Review

it_user6978

Co-Founder at Helical IT Solution (Jaspersoft, Pentaho, Talend, Kettle, DWBI, ETL, Ctools, iReport, Jasper Report)

Jun 10, 2013

Jaspersoft vs. Pentaho – Which one to use & is there any need to purchase the commercial edition

Any company (be it technology, manfucaturing, human resource, ecommerce, SME etc) always has the need for Business Intelligence to some or the other extent. If cost is one of the consideration factor, then the 2 BI tools which are at the forefront are Pentaho and Jaspersoft. But, often the same…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Government

12%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

28%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

Educational Organization

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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services?

Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services should be okay if you're within the budget. We're just using open-source solutions if you're not within the budget. Sometimes, we use MySQL or something simi...

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What needs improvement with Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services?

QL Server can support the customer language in the long term, so we can use another language to build some components.

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Seeking lightweight open source BI software

There are many...It would rather depend what System BI architecture or Enterprise legacy you have at your end...I would recommend as follows: 1) If you have legacies of SAP, Oracle - look for SAP...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pentaho Business Analytics?

For those starting to use this tool, there is a free version available which is beneficial. The company also finds the pricing to be good.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Pentaho Business Analytics?

The tool is very good, and yet it has some problems as it relies heavily on Java. The platform works with Java, and it has brought some issues to the company.

See all answers

Comparisons

TIBCO Jaspersoft vs Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services

Compared 22% of the time

Tableau vs Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services

Compared 16% of the time

Oracle OBIEE vs Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services

Compared 14% of the time

IBM Cognos vs Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services

Compared 12% of the time

Looker Studio vs Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services

Compared 3% of the time

More Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services Competitors

KNIME vs Pentaho Business Analytics

Compared 30% of the time

Databricks vs Pentaho Business Analytics

Compared 18% of the time

Microsoft Power BI vs Pentaho Business Analytics

Compared 15% of the time

Tableau vs Pentaho Business Analytics

Compared 9% of the time

Alteryx vs Pentaho Business Analytics

Compared 5% of the time

More Pentaho Business Analytics Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft SQL Servering Services

February 2025

Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services report

Download Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services product report

Buyer's Guide

Pentaho Business Analytics

February 2025

Download Pentaho Business Analytics product report

Also Known As

SQL Server Reporting Services, Microsoft SSRS, SSRS, MS SQL Server Reporting Services

Pentaho, Kettle, Hitachi Pentaho Business Analytics

Overview

At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Our mission is grounded in both the world in which we live and the future we strive to create. Today, we live in a mobile-first, cloud-first world, and the transformation we are driving across our businesses is designed to enable Microsoft and our customers to thrive in this world.

We do business in 170 countries and are made up of 114,000 passionate employees dedicated to fulfilling our mission of helping you and your organization achieve more.

Microsoft

Pentaho is an open source business intelligence company that provides a wide range of tools to help their customers better manage their businesses. These tools include data integration software, mining tools, dashboard applications, online analytical processing options, and more.

Pentaho has two product categories: There is the standard enterprise version. This is the product that comes directly from Pentaho itself with all of the benefits, features, and programs that come along with a paid application such us analysis services, dashboard design, and interactive reporting.

The alternative is an open source version, which the public is permitted to add to and tweak the product. This solution has its advantages, aside from the fact that it is free, in that there are many more people working on the project to improve its quality and breadth of functionality.

Hitachi Vantara

Sample Customers

CMS Wire, The New York Times

Cargo 2000 Lufthansa, Marketo, ModCloth, Cardiac Science, Telefonica, ExactTarget, Active Broadband Networks, and Brussels Airport.

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft SQL Servering Services vs. Pentaho Business Analytics

January 2025

Free Report: Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services vs. Pentaho Business Analytics

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services vs. Pentaho Business Analytics and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.

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