If you don’t have a report builder, you won’t be able to create reports. 

This means that you won’t be able to get the information that you need in order to make decisions about your business. 

Without reports, you’ll be flying blind and relying on guesswork to make decisions. This is not a recipe for success.

Report builders are essential for businesses of all sizes. They give you the ability to slice and dice data in order to better understand what’s happening within your company. 

Without a report builder, you’ll be at a disadvantage when it comes to making informed decisions about your business.

Microsoft report builders have been the thing for a long time now. It is now time you get a grasp of other report builder alternatives as there are quite some options to choose from.

Looking for the best Microsoft report builder alternatives in 2024? In this article, you will find all you need to know about Microsoft report builder alternatives and more. 

What Is A Report Builder?

A report builder is a tool that lets users create reports from scratch, or based on pre-existing templates. It typically provides a graphic interface that makes it easy to add and remove fields, as well as sort and format data. 

Uses

• Some report builders also let users create charts and graphs within the reports.

• They are often used in business settings, as they can be used to create custom reports for specific needs. 

• For example, a report builder could be used to create a sales report that includes data on products sold, customers served, and revenue generated. 

• They can also be used to create more complex reports, such as financial statements or customer analysis reports.

Overall, they provide a flexible way to create reports of all types. They can be used to create simple or complex reports, depending on the user’s needs.

Benefits Of Report Builders

There are many benefits that come with using a report builder. 

1. Save Time

Perhaps the most obvious benefit is that it can save you a lot of time. Rather than having to manually create reports, a report builder can do it for you quickly and easily. 

This can be a big time saver, particularly if you have to create reports on a regular basis.

2. Professional 

Another benefit of report builders is that they can help you to create more professional-looking reports.

If you’re not experienced in creating reports, then using a report builder can help to give your reports a more polished and professional appearance. 

This can be important if you’re presenting your reports to clients or other businesses.

3. Easier Sharing

Finally, report builders can also make it easier to share your reports with others. rather than having to send out individual files or printouts, you can simply share a link to your report online. 

This can make it much easier for people to view and use your reports, which is often very important in business settings.

Importance Of Microsoft SQL Server Report Builder

Microsoft SQL Server Report Builder is a powerful tool that allows you to create sophisticated reports from your data. 

With Report Builder, you can easily add charts, images, and other visual elements to your reports to make them more informative and engaging. 

You can also use Microsoft SQL Server Report Builder to create custom reports tailored to your specific needs. 

Best Microsoft Report Builder Alternatives

Let’s have a look at the best Microsoft report builder alternatives in 2024. 

1. Dotnet Report Builder

Being an ad hoc reporting solution, Dotnet report builder is simple and dynamic. Let’s have a look at some of its features.

1. Charts And Dashboards

When it comes to the Dotnet report builder, users can play around with different charts and graphs. They can add filters to them and run analytics when required. 

2. Report Scheduler

With the report scheduler, you can keep everyone up-to-date on the latest reports. You can schedule the time for a report to be emailed to different users. 

3. Multi-Tenant Clients, Users & Roles

It no longer matters if your client’s data is stored in the same database or not, dotnet has got you covered, all thanks to its built-in support for Multi-Tenant Clients. 

4. Drill-Down Reports

You can get all the grouped reports in a dropdown option due to the built-in automated dropdown options.

Other features include server-side paging, a filter using a list, organization in folders, as well as built-in date filters. 

5. Pricing Options

The dotnet report comes with a number of different pricing options. These include open plan, premium, premium plus, and enterprise.

Dotnet report builder is one of the best options available out there when it comes to business intelligence. It is a solution to all your business intelligence needs. 

Before signing up for the tool, you can go for our free trial option as it would help you get a walk of our features and how they would benefit your organization.  

2. Tableau

Tableau is a business intelligence software that helps companies see and understand data. It allows users to create visualizations, dashboards, and reports from data sources. 

Tableau can connect to databases, spreadsheets, and cloud-based data sources. It also offers a variety of features for exploring and analyzing data. 

It is a powerful tool for understanding data and making better business decisions.

3. GoodData

GoodData is a cloud-based reporting solution that enables businesses to create reports, perform data visualization, and generate meaningful insights from multiple data sources. As a modern business intelligence platform, it provides an intuitive interface for users to build visually appealing reports without requiring extensive technical expertise.

Unlike Microsoft Report Builder, which is limited to paginated reports, GoodData offers an interactive data visualization experience, allowing users to explore data dynamically. It supports various data sources, including Microsoft SQL Server, Google Analytics, and cloud-based databases, making it a flexible choice for organizations with complex data needs. Its web-based platform ensures reports remain up to date and accessible from anywhere.

1. Flexible Architecture

GoodData has a flexible architecture that allows it to be easily integrated with other data management platforms and tools. 

This makes it an ideal solution for companies that need to manage large amounts of data. 

GoodData also has a number of built-in features that make it easy to use, including a user-friendly interface.

2. Scalable Analytics

GoodData’s analytics are highly scalable, meaning that they can be easily adapted to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes. 

This is a key advantage over other platforms which can often be too limited in their scalability. 

GoodData’s analytics allow businesses to get more out of their data, and make more informed decisions about how to grow and improve their operations.

3. Open Integration

GoodData is a cloud-based data analytics platform that enables users to collect, prepare, and analyze data. 

The platform offers an open integration that allows users to connect to various data sources, including relational databases, NoSQL databases, and web applications.

4. Google Data Studio

Google Data Studio is a web-based platform that allows users to create beautiful data visualizations and reports from multiple data sources. 

It is one of the many products offered by Google Cloud, and it is part of the Google Analytics 360 Suite. 

• Data Studio makes it easy to connect to your data, regardless of where it lives, and then visualize that data in any way you can imagine.

• Reports and dashboards created in Data Studio are highly interactive, and they can be easily shared with others. 

• Data Studio also offers a variety of built-in connectors to popular data sources, making it even easier to get started.

When it comes to its pricing, google data studio is available for free at the moment. 

5. Amazon Quicksight

Amazon QuickSight is a cloud-based reporting solution that enables users to create reports, generate visually appealing reports, and gain meaningful insights from multiple data sources. As a fully managed business intelligence tool, QuickSight is designed to simplify data visualization while providing powerful analytics capabilities.

One of QuickSight’s key advantages is its ability to connect to various data sources, including Microsoft SQL Server, Google Analytics, AWS data lakes, and other cloud and on-premise databases. Its associative data model allows users to explore and interact with data dynamically, making it an excellent alternative to Microsoft Report Builder. Additionally, the platform supports ad hoc reporting and interactive data visualization, helping organizations make data-driven decisions quickly.

It has many features that include

1. API Capabilities

Amazon QuickSight has extensive API capabilities that allow you to easily embed visualizations and dashboards into your own applications. 

QuickSight’s APIs are designed to give you the maximum flexibility in how you integrate QuickSight into your own systems. 

You can use the QuickSight APIs to programmatically create and manage users, groups, and permissions; retrieve data from QuickSight datasets; and generate visualizations and dashboards.

2. Serverless Autoscaling

Amazon QuickSight is a serverless, autoscaling business intelligence service from Amazon Web Services (AWS). 

It provides fast and interactive visualizations and analytics of data from multiple data sources. 

QuickSight can be used to analyze data from Amazon S3, Amazon Redshift, Amazon Athena, and other data sources. QuickSight supports both live and historical data analysis.

3. Broad Data Source Support

Amazon QuickSight provides broad data source support so you can easily connect to the data you need, whether it’s stored in Amazon Redshift, Amazon Athena, Amazon S3, or any other data source.

While Microsoft Report Builder offers robust features, exploring other SSRS alternatives can provide more flexibility and advanced functionalities tailored to your organization’s needs.

6. Bold Reports

Bold Reports is a powerful Microsoft Report Builder alternative that offers a modern and user-friendly interface for seamless report design. Designed to simplify data visualization and data reporting, it enables users to create reports effortlessly while ensuring flexibility and efficiency.

One of its key advantages is its support for deployment across multiple platforms, including Docker and Kubernetes, making it a highly scalable web-based platform for businesses of all sizes. Whether you’re working with multiple data sources or need to generate visually appealing reports, Bold Reports provides an intuitive experience that enhances productivity.

With built-in features for managing users, organizations can set individual user accounts and permissions directly within the report server, ensuring secure access and streamlined operations. The interactive data visualization capabilities allow for advanced visualizations, drag-and-drop report creation, and seamless integration with existing applications.

Bold Reports supports a variety of data sources, including SQL Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Google Analytics, and other cloud-based reporting solutions, allowing users to gain meaningful insights from their data. It also enables businesses to save time by providing customization options, ad hoc reporting, and easy sharing of reports in various formats.

For organizations seeking an alternative to Microsoft Reporting Solutions with a focus on business intelligence, Bold Reports stands out as a powerful tool that combines robust reporting capabilities with ease of use.

7. Qlik Sense

Qlik Sense is a top-tier Microsoft Report Builder alternative designed for businesses that require advanced data visualization, intuitive reporting solutions, and interactive data visualization capabilities. With its associative data model, Qlik Sense enables users to explore multiple data sources seamlessly, uncovering meaningful insights that drive smarter decision-making.

Unlike traditional Microsoft reporting tools, Qlik Sense empowers users to create reports with a highly user-friendly interface, making it accessible to both technical and non-technical users. The platform’s drag-and-drop functionality allows for the effortless creation of visually appealing reports, dashboards, and charts without the need for complex coding.

As a cloud-based reporting and web-based platform, Qlik Sense provides real-time access to reports and dashboards, ensuring that businesses always have up-to-date information. It supports seamless integration with SQL Server, Google Analytics, and other data sources, allowing for a holistic view of organizational performance.

Security and scalability are key strengths of Qlik Sense, making it an ideal choice for organizations looking to deploy reports across various environments. It offers robust manage users functionality, ensuring controlled access to critical data. Additionally, users can easily apply filters, customize reports, and share them in various formats, optimizing workflows and saving time.

For businesses seeking a powerful tool that enhances business intelligence while improving reporting purposes, Qlik Sense delivers an advanced, flexible, and innovative solution. Whether you’re analyzing trends, generating ad hoc reports, or integrating with existing applications, Qlik Sense provides the efficiency and usability modern organizations need.

8. Scoro

Scoro is a comprehensive Microsoft Report Builder alternative that streamlines reporting solutions while enhancing business intelligence for organizations of all sizes. Designed for efficiency, Scoro allows users to create reports, track key metrics, and gain meaningful insights from multiple data sources in one centralized web-based platform.

With its user-friendly interface, Scoro simplifies data visualization by offering intuitive drag-and-drop functionality, enabling teams to build visually appealing reports and dashboards without requiring advanced technical skills. The platform supports customization options, allowing businesses to tailor their reports to meet specific needs while ensuring data accuracy and clarity.

One of the key advantages of Scoro is its ability to integrate seamlessly with Microsoft SQL Server, Google Analytics, and other data sources, enabling organizations to consolidate and analyze information in real time. Whether you need to generate reports for financial performance, project tracking, or customer insights, Scoro provides a robust framework for reporting purposes.

As a cloud-based reporting tool, Scoro ensures that reports remain up to date and accessible from anywhere. Its built-in manage users functionality allows for role-based access control, ensuring that the right stakeholders have the appropriate permissions. Additionally, users can easily apply filters, schedule reports, and export them in various formats for seamless collaboration.

For businesses looking to enhance their analytics platform and optimize reporting solutions, Scoro stands out as a powerful tool that saves time, improves decision-making, and simplifies data reporting. Its integration with existing applications and ability to support advanced visualizations make it an excellent alternative to traditional Microsoft reporting tools.

9. Adobe Report Builder

Adobe Report Builder is a powerful Microsoft Report Builder alternative that enables businesses to create reports with enhanced flexibility, automation, and data visualization capabilities. Designed for seamless integration with Microsoft Excel, it allows users to pull data from multiple data sources, including Google Analytics, Microsoft SQL Server, and other reporting solutions, to generate meaningful insights with ease.

One of the key advantages of Adobe Report Builder is its ability to provide interactive data visualization and customization options, ensuring that users can generate visually appealing reports tailored to their specific needs. Its drag-and-drop functionality makes it a user-friendly interface, allowing for effortless report creation without requiring deep technical expertise.

With support for cloud-based reporting, Adobe Report Builder ensures that reports remain up to date and accessible from anywhere. The tool enables users to automate data refreshes, apply advanced filters, and structure reports in various formats to optimize decision-making processes. Whether for business intelligence, marketing analytics, or operational tracking, Adobe Report Builder offers a robust framework for reporting purposes.

Additionally, the platform allows organizations to manage users by setting permissions and access controls, ensuring secure data handling. Its seamless integration with existing applications and web-based platforms makes it a scalable solution for businesses looking to improve data reporting efficiency while maintaining accuracy.

For companies seeking a powerful tool that enhances analytics platforms and simplifies deploying reports, Adobe Report Builder stands out as a premier choice. It provides an intuitive way to analyze and visualize data, helping organizations save time while making informed decisions.

10. IBM Cognos

IBM Cognos is a powerful Microsoft Report Builder alternative that enables organizations to create reports, analyze data sources, and gain meaningful insights to drive decision-making. As a comprehensive business intelligence and reporting solution, it supports businesses in generating reports, monitoring events, and visualizing key metrics through interactive data visualization.

One of the key advantages of IBM Cognos is its ability to connect with multiple data sources, including Microsoft SQL Server, Google Analytics, and enterprise databases. This integration ensures accurate data reporting and allows users to create reports and dashboards tailored to their specific needs. The platform provides robust customization options, enabling users to apply filters, design visually appealing reports, and structure data in various formats for better accessibility.

Designed with a user-friendly interface, IBM Cognos simplifies deploying reports while offering advanced analytics platform capabilities. Its drag-and-drop functionality allows for seamless reporting purposes, while its cloud-based reporting ensures that reports remain up to date and accessible across devices.

Additionally, businesses can manage users, control permissions, and integrate IBM Cognos with existing applications to streamline workflows. Whether for enterprise-wide analytics, operational tracking, or strategic planning, IBM Cognos delivers a powerful tool for organizations seeking alternative solutions to enhance data visualization and improve overall reporting efficiency.

11. Pentaho

Pentaho is a robust Microsoft Report Builder alternative that provides businesses with a comprehensive reporting solution for data integration, data mining, and dashboard applications. Designed to enhance business intelligence, Pentaho enables users to create reports, analyze multiple data sources, and extract meaningful insights to make data-driven decisions.

With its advanced reporting tool, Pentaho supports interactive data visualization and allows users to generate visually appealing reports with customizable graphs, charts, and dashboards. It seamlessly integrates with Microsoft SQL Server, Google Analytics, and various cloud-based reporting platforms, making it an ideal choice for organizations that rely on various data sources for analytics.

One of the key advantages of Pentaho is its powerful drag-and-drop functionality, which simplifies the process of creating reports without requiring extensive technical expertise. Businesses can easily apply filters, structure reports and dashboards, and present data in various formats for better accessibility. Additionally, its web-based platform ensures that users can access reports in real-time and keep data up to date.

Beyond reporting, Pentaho provides extensive customization options, allowing organizations to integrate the tool with existing applications and tailor it to their specific needs. With its ability to handle big data, support alternative solutions, and enhance reporting purposes, Pentaho is a powerful tool that helps businesses improve their data reporting and decision-making capabilities.

Comparing the Best Microsoft Report Builder Alternatives: DotNet Report, Bold Reports, and IBM Cognos

When choosing a Microsoft Report Builder alternative, organizations need a reporting tool that supports multiple data sources, offers flexible pricing, and ensures ease of use. Three popular reporting solutions—DotNet Report, Bold Reports, and IBM Cognos—stand out for their unique strengths.

DotNet Report is a highly flexible reporting solution designed for seamless integration with existing applications. It offers a user-friendly interface with built-in drag-and-drop functionality, enabling users to create reports effortlessly. With support for various data sources, including Microsoft SQL Server, and customization options, DotNet Report provides businesses with a powerful tool to enhance data visualization and generate meaningful insights.

Bold Reports enables users to connect to databases like MySQL and PostgreSQL, offering strong business intelligence capabilities. Its ability to integrate with web-based platforms and provide interactive data visualization makes it an excellent choice for organizations seeking cloud-based reporting with advanced visualizations.

Meanwhile, IBM Cognos offers competitive pricing comparable to other leading analytics platforms. It supports various formats, allowing businesses to efficiently generate reports, manage reports and dashboards, and extract meaningful insights for reporting purposes.

For organizations looking for alternative solutions, DotNet Report, Bold Reports, and IBM Cognos each provide unique key advantages, helping businesses optimize their reporting tools and make data-driven decisions.

Final Thoughts

As we wrap up our discussion on report builders, there are a few key points to keep in mind. 

• First and foremost, report builders are tools that allow users to create custom reports without the need for coding or other technical skills. 

• Report builders can be used to create both simple and complex reports, and they offer a great deal of flexibility in terms of design and functionality. 

• Additionally, report builders can be used to generate reports on a variety of data sources, including relational databases, OLAP cubes, and even flat files.

Needs Of Organizations

When deciding whether or not to use a report builder, it is important to consider the needs of your organization. 

If you have a large number of users who need to be able to create custom reports, then a report builder may be the right solution for you. 

However, if you have a small number of users who only need to generate simple reports, then another solution may be more appropriate. 

Skills Of Users

Additionally, it is important to consider the skills of your users when deciding whether or not to use a report builder. 

If your users lack the technical skills necessary to create complex reports, then a report builder may not be the best solution.

All these alternatives to Microsoft Report builders can help you find the best solution keeping in sight the needs of your organization. 

FAQs

Does Google have reporting tools?

Google has its own reporting tool named google data studio. 

Does SSRS cost money?

SSRS is free of cost only if you have Microsoft SQL Server.

What is replacing SSRS?

While SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) is still widely used, many organizations are transitioning to more modern reporting solutions such as Power BI, Bold Reports, and Qlik Sense. Power BI, in particular, offers a user-friendly interface, interactive data visualization, and seamless integration with Microsoft SQL Server. Additionally, cloud-based reporting tools provide enhanced data sources connectivity and improved customization options compared to traditional SSRS.

Is Report Builder still supported?

Yes, Microsoft Report Builder is still supported as a part of SSRS and continues to receive updates. However, Microsoft is encouraging users to adopt Power BI and other modern reporting solutions for more advanced data visualization, reporting purposes, and integration with cloud-based platforms. While Report Builder remains a free tool for creating paginated reports, businesses looking for more alternative solutions may consider other options.

What is the difference between SSRS and Microsoft Report Builder?

SSRS is a full-fledged reporting tool designed for enterprise-level data reporting, while Microsoft Report Builder is a more simplified, user-friendly interface for creating reports within SSRS. SSRS is ideal for developers and IT professionals needing advanced customization options, whereas Report Builder is geared towards business users who want a more intuitive experience for ad hoc report creation. Both tools support multiple data sources and various formats, but SSRS offers deeper integration with SQL Server for complex reporting purposes.

Which is better, SSRS or Crystal Reports?

The choice between SSRS and Crystal Reports depends on business needs. SSRS is a Microsoft reporting solution that integrates seamlessly with SQL Server and provides strong data sources connectivity, making it a great choice for enterprises using the Microsoft ecosystem. On the other hand, Crystal Reports offers extensive advanced visualizations, interactive data visualization, and flexible customization options, making it preferable for businesses that need more complex data reporting and visually appealing reports. If you require deep business intelligence capabilities, SSRS may be better, but for detailed data visualization, Crystal Reports is a strong competitor.