SQL Server Reporting Services and Crystal Reports:
A Competitive Analysis
Copyright 2005, Brian Bischof
Conclusion
When deciding which tool to standardize on, it's important to look at the architecture of each tool. Within this paper I listed the differences between the two products and also mentioned how each design decision comes with certain advantages and disadvantages. Remember to test each reporting tool against the functionality that is critical to your reporting requirements. Determine which product best fits your needs before making your choice.
Overall, both tools are an excellent choice for implementing reporting capabilities into your applications, but they cater to different audiences. Crystal Reports has the benefit of being the veteran in the field and supports almost every conceivable reporting requirement there is. It has versions for developers as well as business users. SSRS is the new kid on the block and it is focused only on the developer market. SSRS is a 1.0 release and still has some growing pains to go through. If your company's users have a broad range of reporting requirements and expect their reports to look a certain way, then Crystal Reports could be your best bet. If your developers want to use the latest tools and you have the resources to write the code for the missing functionality, then SSRS could be your choice.
Reporting Tools Feature Summary
| Feature | Crystal Reports XI | Reporting Services |
| Version | 11.0 | 1.0 |
| File Format | Binary (.RPT) Uses SDKs to access objects | XML (.RDL) Editable with Notepad |
| Target User | Business User and Developer | Developer |
| Designer Interface | Banded | Object based |
| License Cost | CR.NET - Free Dev Edition - $300 Upgrade CR Server - $7,500 |
Included with SQL Server 2000 Additional Server - $5,000 Enterprise License - $20,000 |
| Extensibility | Closed architecture | Open architecture |
| Data Connectivity | Single point of entry CR Server - Shared data source |
Shared data sources |
| DataSet Reporting | Supported | Not Supported |
| Table Object | Not Supported | Supported |
| Forms Authentication | Supported | Not Supported Enterprise license support |
| WYSIWYG formatting | Precise | HTML focused |
| Formula Library | 50+ financial functions 4 dozen date functions |
13 financial functions Half dozen date functions |
| Sub-reports | One level deep | 20 levels deep Object based reporting improves on sub-reports |
| CSS | Supported | Minimal support |
| Export granular control | Not Supported | Supported |
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