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Knowage vs Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services 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

Knowage
Ranking in Reporting
23rd
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (32nd)
Microsoft SQL Server Report...
Ranking in Reporting
12th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Reporting category, the mindshare of Knowage is 2.0%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is 2.1%, down from 3.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Reporting Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services2.1%
Knowage2.0%
Other95.9%
Reporting
 

Featured Reviews

AM
Margin Assurance Analyst at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
A stable open source suite for modern business analytics with a useful replication feature
It would be better if more resources were available to help us learn how to use it. I wanted to use Knowage for a more extended period, but learning materials around the product were not really available and were not really straightforward. I've also seen inconsistencies between versions. For example, under the tools, especially in the cockpit, the way you create reports is now different. You will also find some configurations within a particular state, like a line chart, which differs from version to version. I think consistency is an essential feature in a product, especially for business intelligence products.
RM
Database Administrator at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Has supported daily reporting needs and provided consistent deployment functionality
Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is not difficult to use, but my main issue is troubleshooting whenever there is any problem, as the logs can be unclear. Perhaps I don't have enough experience with the tool to know where exactly to look, but I do find troubleshooting to be the most challenging aspect; however, outside of that, it's a pretty solid tool, pretty straightforward, and I have no issues with it. The initial setup for Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is not an issue for me; however, I find it challenging when we want to secure the endpoint, such as using bindings and so forth, which may be due to my lack of knowledge.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Being able to schedule necessary jobs needed for production jobs and programming run times"
"The concept of engines is quite powerful allowing the user to work with report authoring/provisioning tools of their choice."
"In terms of ROI, much better than any other solution when it offer full fledged features in open source, planned to have direct contact with SpagoBI for better support."
"I am satisfied with the product in general given what the company invested in it, which was just our time."
"Instead of just relying on emails to disperse our reports, having a central server to do this for us has helped our organization and has pushed us into a better place."
"It improves sales and products, which motivates employees."
"It's a great product. It has a lot more features than many other BI tools. You can get the most out of machine learning, the best connectivity to Python, and it cuts across enterprise sections."
"It's very easy to get the historical reports you need based on the business requirements and this helps our executives for taking decisions."
"The solution is known for its robust security features."
"The stability of SSRS has been reliable, with minimal issues encountered during our usage."
"Overall, we are very much satisfied with this product."
"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."
"Outside of that, it's a pretty solid tool, pretty straightforward, and I have no issues with it."
"I'm very satisfied with the customer service. And usually, whenever we have any issue or details, we get to the person for the support. I'm really satisfied with the service. Within a few minutes or within a few hours, the support person will be available."
"We get good support from Microsoft."
"We can create quality reports in real time."
 

Cons

"Development of SpagoBI has now been moved to Knowage. Users interested in further developments of the platform will have to look there."
"I faced difficulties when using the email feature and documentation was scant."
"Tomcat configuration was tricky in earlier versions."
"Unfortunately, many interesting features do not work when you are using a custom database for storing the metadata."
"It would be better if more resources were available to help us learn how to use it. I wanted to use Knowage for a more extended period, but learning materials around the product were not really available and were not really straightforward. I've also seen inconsistencies between versions. For example, under the tools, especially in the cockpit, the way you create reports is now different. You will also find some configurations within a particular state, like a line chart, which differs from version to version. I think consistency is an essential feature in a product, especially for business intelligence products."
"As all software and especially the open-source ones have always something that can work better, in this case, SpagoBI is slightly difficult to implement."
"We had stability issues."
"Many things need to be improved, most of all robustness."
"I haven't contacted Microsoft technical support because of this tool, but for some other things I have, and I found them quite lacking."
"There are occasions during maintenance runs when the Check Point monitoring system reports a lot of blocked sessions."
"The product could be improved by reducing the time it takes to build and deploy reports."
"It is not easy to integrate the product with other tools in the market."
"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 solution's interface is old."
"The setup is difficult because you have to install different servers."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It allows the implementation of an effective reporting system using internal skills at a limited upfront cost."
"Knowage is open-source, and an enterprise edition is also available."
"Value-wise, the solution's pricing is good for the price that we pay."
"The price is pretty good."
"The solution is cheaper than its alternatives."
"The product pricing is reasonable in terms of suitable features for business."
"The solution is free to use for developers."
"The solution is expensive."
"The pricing is high."
"The tool's licensing costs are expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
23%
University
9%
Marketing Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise15
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services?
I would consider it cost effective for our environment, and we don't have to invest in another big tool to generate these reports, making it all integrated and easier. Otherwise, you need to write ...
What needs improvement with Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services?
Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is not difficult to use, but my main issue is troubleshooting whenever there is any problem, as the logs can be unclear. Perhaps I don't have enough experien...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services?
The use cases for Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services are mainly for reporting purposes, to deploy reports. That's what we mainly use it for, allowing business end-users to navigate to the URL ...
 

Also Known As

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

FIAT Group, Italian air navigation service provider, Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Telecom Italia, ASL Genovese, San Giovanni Battista University Hospital
CMS Wire, The New York Times
Find out what your peers are saying about Knowage vs. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,495 professionals have used our research since 2012.