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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 7.6, while Hitachi Vantara is ranked #16 with an average rating of 8.5. Microsoft holds a 3.3% mindshare in RT, compared to Hitachi Vantara’s 1.0% 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
  • 2,977 Views
  • 1,988 Comparison Views
84% willing to recommend
Pentaho Business Analytics
Read 43 Pentaho Business Analytics reviews
  • 786 Views
  • 576 Comparison Views
89% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

Pentaho Business Analytics and Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services are two leading business intelligence tools. User reviews suggest SQL Server Reporting Services generally has the upper hand, especially for users in the Microsoft ecosystem due to its extensive feature set and seamless integration with Microsoft products.

Features: Pentaho Business Analytics is known for its extensive ETL capabilities, drag-and-drop data flow design, and open-source flexibility, which allows for cost-effective solutions. Its wide array of plugins and compatibility with various data types, including Big Data, stand out. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services offers powerful reporting and visualization capabilities, smooth SQL Server integration, and excellent pagination and KPI features, making it ideal for producing printable and complex visualizations.

Room for Improvement: Pentaho could enhance its advanced reporting presentations and visualization, focusing on improving dashboard aesthetics and user-friendly interfaces. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services should aim to simplify setup, minimize its dependence on external tools for report management, and refine interface interaction.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both Pentaho and SQL Server Reporting Services support on-premises and hybrid cloud infrastructures. Pentaho benefits from a strong community backing, compensating for less formalized technical support, suitable for open-source users. SQL Server Reporting Services generally receives higher support ratings, though its setup complexity may affect the initial deployment experience.

Pricing and ROI: Pentaho’s community edition provides substantial cost savings with no license fees, making it budget-friendly, while the enterprise edition, though expensive, offers advanced features. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, seen as costly, is justified by its feature-rich, robust environment, providing good ROI through comprehensive capabilities.

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Buyer's Guide
Microsoft SQL Servering Services vs. Pentaho Business Analytics
March 2025
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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
Pentaho Business Analytics
Ranking in Reporting
16th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (21st), Cloud Operations Analytics (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Reporting category, the mindshare of Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is 3.3%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Pentaho Business Analytics is 1.0%, down from 1.3% 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.
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Sayan König - PeerSpot reviewer
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

"We were able to embed the report builder within our internal proprietary systems, improving our reporting capabilities."
"In Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, the installation and configuration are easy."
"I am impressed with the product's seamless integration. It can work with different databases like Oracle."
"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 solution is known for its robust security features."
"Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services has been functional whenever I needed to use it."
"Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) is reliable for management dashboard and reporting purposes. It is helpful for user reporting and administrative tasks, such as monitoring progress. It is easy to use since it is lightweight and integrates well with the SQL Server database, making reporting straightforward. The visualization capabilities enhance our reporting needs with good pagination and KPI features. It integrates well with data servers and workbooks, allowing us to publish reports on mobile applications and tablets easily. Integrating other tools and platforms in our tech ecosystem is generally straightforward. However, if we need to perform something very specialized, we might have to use third-party tools rather than inbuilt options."
"The SQL Server Reporting Services makes it very easy to get the data whenever we need it."
More Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services pros
"It is robust, offers market intelligence, and utilizes modules effectively."
"The most valuable feature of Pentaho is the Tableau report."
"I use the BI Server, CDE Dashboards, Saiku, and Kettle, because these tools are very good and highly experienced."
"The initial setup is pretty straightforward."
"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."
"We were able to install it without any assistance from tech support."
"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."
"Easy to use components to create the job."
 

Cons

"They could improve the scalability and stability of SQL Server Reporting Services."
"Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services needs to improve performance."
"It is not easy to integrate the product with other tools in the market."
"There is room for improvement in the pricing model."
"The product should improve its performance."
"The solution's interface is old."
"Tableau is more user-friendly because it doesn't need to do any extra programming. It has drag-and-drop functionality."
"Technical support is in minor need of improvement so that they can solve problems in a more timely manner."
More Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services cons
"Another concern is that Pentaho is not customizable or interactive."
"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."
"Version control would be a good addition."
"The tool is very good, and yet it has some problems as it relies heavily on Java."
"Logging capability is needed."
"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."
"We did not achieve the ROI. The work delivered to users had lesser value than the subscription cost."
More Pentaho Business Analytics cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is cheaper than its alternatives."
"The price is pretty good."
"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 tool's licensing costs are expensive."
"Value-wise, the solution's pricing is good for the price that we pay."
"The solution is expensive."
"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."
"Free and commercial versions are available."
"Pentaho is expensive ."
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Comparison Review

it_user6978 - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
Read full review
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
12%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
27%
Computer Software Company
13%
Educational Organization
7%
Government
6%
 

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?
I don't recall the current pricing as it changes frequently.
See all answers
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.
See all answers
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 Logo
TIBCO Jaspersoft vs Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services
Compared 21% of the time
Tableau vs Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services Logo
Tableau vs Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services
Compared 18% of the time
IBM Cognos vs Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services Logo
IBM Cognos vs Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services
Compared 12% of the time
Oracle OBIEE vs Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services Logo
Oracle OBIEE vs Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services
Compared 11% of the time
More Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services Competitors
KNIME vs Pentaho Business Analytics Logo
KNIME vs Pentaho Business Analytics
Compared 32% of the time
Databricks vs Pentaho Business Analytics Logo
Databricks vs Pentaho Business Analytics
Compared 19% of the time
Microsoft Power BI vs Pentaho Business Analytics Logo
Microsoft Power BI vs Pentaho Business Analytics
Compared 14% of the time
SAP Crystal Reports vs Pentaho Business Analytics Logo
SAP Crystal Reports vs Pentaho Business Analytics
Compared 9% of the time
Knowage vs Pentaho Business Analytics Logo
Knowage vs Pentaho Business Analytics
Compared 4% of the time
More Pentaho Business Analytics Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Microsoft SQL Servering Services
March 2025
Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services reportDownload Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services product report
Buyer's Guide
Pentaho Business Analytics
March 2025
Pentaho Business Analytics reportDownload 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
March 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: March 2025.
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