Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services vs Zendesk comparison

Microsoft SQL Server Report...

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41 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services and Zendesk each cater to distinct business needs, with the former specializing in data management and reporting and the latter in customer support solutions. While Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services has an advantage in handling complex data tasks, Zendesk is favored for its superior customer-oriented features.

Features: Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services offers powerful reporting capabilities, integration with Microsoft products, and custom report creation. Zendesk delivers valuable features like robust ticketing systems, integration with diverse third-party applications, and customer interaction tracking.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services could improve on simplifying its deployment process, enhancing user-friendliness, and expanding non-Microsoft integrations. Zendesk might benefit from advanced reporting capabilities, better multi-brand management, and refining its macro features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services demands significant technical expertise for deployment, possibly hindering customer service. In contrast, Zendesk offers a simpler setup process and emphasizes user-friendly support, ensuring continuous assistance.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services involves higher initial costs, with ROI driven by long-term integration efficiencies. On the other hand, Zendesk matches its customer-centric features with setup costs that often yield faster ROI by enhancing client engagement dynamics.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services vs. Zendesk Report (Updated: June 2025).

Microsoft SQL Servering Services vs. Zendesk

June 2025

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Helped 857,162 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

5th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Zendesk

Ranking in Reporting

14th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

CRM Customer Engagement Centers (7th), CRM (19th), Help Desk Software (9th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (8th), Sales Force Automation (8th), Knowledge Management Software (5th), Community Platforms (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Reporting category, the mindshare of Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is 3.4%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zendesk is 0.2%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Reporting

Featured Reviews

MartinSimons

Senior Consultant at X1F

Ensures database access and monitoring have been manageable, but batch load analysis needs better support

There are occasions during maintenance runs when the Check Point monitoring system reports a lot of blocked sessions. This is typically due to system processes or maintenance processes that temporarily block themselves. Additionally, a tool within the studio for performing SQL analysis does not provide useful information for batch load processes, often advising not to use an index, which is expected with batch loads.

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JohanSkibdahl

CEO at Etcetera Networks

Automating customer support with advanced AI capabilities and seamless communication

Zendesk has been invaluable in automating communications such as email and phone calls. It allows us to handle more support cases with fewer people due to its advanced artificial intelligence capabilities. This intelligent tool can manage complex queries before users even realize they are interacting with a non-human. Additionally, we have integrated Zendesk with Datto and Klaviyo ( /products/klaviyo-reviews ), enhancing our workflows.

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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

"The stability of SSRS has been reliable, with minimal issues encountered during our usage."

"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."

"We get good support from Microsoft."

"It is a stable solution."

"We can create quality reports in real time."

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

"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."

More Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services pros

"What is cool about Zendesk Guide is how it works together with others Zendesk products. Especially with support and with the analytics. Put those together for a small or medium-sized company and it's a really powerful tool."

"I found the user experience with vendors on Zendesk to be straightforward, especially when it comes to understanding and searching for specific tickets. The search and navigation tools are easy to use, and I haven't encountered any issues with delays or communication gaps in ticket resolutions."

"It is a scalable solution."

"One of the most valuable features is the ease of use. If you take the standalone product, it is so easy to use, but if you want a tailor-made Zendesk Guide, you can't do it yourself. However, you can use a template that already exists—they have a lot, and they're very cheap, around 300-400 euros—and use it on all your brands. It's a very easy product to use."

"One of the most valuable features is that Zendesk gives you a lot of configurability, and a lot of leeway in terms of customizing the look and theme. Zendesk offers you the facility to design your own landing page, as well as the look and feel of the entire knowledge base. At the same time, they offer themes that you can simply purchase and implement. Either way, it can really be turned into the right look and feel of the knowledge base required by our company, which is very important—if you have a bland-looking page, most of the time, people will lose interest. Zendesk also allows you to test the customizations before you publish it. It gives you a sandbox location where you can test everything new that you're trying to create and publish, which is very interesting."

"It has good management, the ability to sign tickets based on content, the multi-channel support, the self service portal, the integration with Salesforce, the setup process, and the product features as we are currently using them."

"Zendesk has been invaluable in automating communications such as email and phone calls."

"Its agility and simplicity are the most valuable features. This tool is very user-friendly."

More Zendesk pros

Cons

"They could improve the scalability and stability of SQL Server Reporting Services."

"The product should improve its performance."

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

"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."

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

"In this solution, the cost should be reduced for the enterprise edition."

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

"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."

More Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services cons

"Sometimes if there was a way to just flag the actual issue out of those email chains - that would be really helpful."

"Zendesk Guide could be improved by allowing us to put our assets in one location. What happens now for each article, for example, is we have to upload the images for that article to that location, so the image reuse is still not something that they have perfected. If they could allow us to update all the images in one location, and then pull the image from there, it would be easier when working on Multibrand projects. There are no Multibrand updates available—we have to update each brand manually. For my company, I have come up with an API tool which allows me to push the content to multiple brands together, but if you don't have something like that, you have to manually do it."

"The price of the solution should be reduced."

"There is always a network issue with Zendesk. But we don’t know whether it is managed. The network issue is that when I call, it does not let us."

"The data you get when logged in to Zendesk Support differs from the data you get when you programmatically query Zendesk Support through its API because of a sync time delay."

"The solution could integrate better with QR codes from some websites such as Facebook."

"One of the drawbacks of Zendesk is that it doesn't provide a secure way for us to send data. So, we usually use a secure SharePoint folder link. We put that in the Zendesk ticket so that the requester has a secure way of getting to their data."

"Report generation is still slightly tricky and not very customizable as per my inquiries."

More Zendesk cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is free to use for developers."

"The solution is cheaper than its alternatives."

"The price is pretty good."

"The pricing is high."

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

"The solution is expensive."

"The tool's licensing costs are expensive."

"The product pricing is reasonable in terms of suitable features for business."

"The price is very competitive."

"There are different plans that are offered. We are using the entry-level plan. The overall price of the solution should be reduced. The price is too high."

"You have to pay extra for better support. So it's not only the license that you pay for, but you have to pay extra for the support as well."

"Zendesk's licensing is not cheap. For Enterprise, we are paying $200 per agent. It's a per-month cost, so it's pretty steep. There are some services you need to pay extra for. For example, with Zendesk Guide, we had to buy the most expensive offering in order to get Multibrand and everything. We also had to pay a lot of money for themes."

"From what I hear, Zendesk's pricing is a little expensive."

"We pay for the solution on a yearly basis and my understanding is that the cost is about $30,000. That's the cost for 24 to 25 agents."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Government

11%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

24%

Educational Organization

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

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.

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.

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.

What do you like most about Zendesk Support?

I found the user experience with vendors on Zendesk to be straightforward, especially when it comes to understanding and searching for specific tickets. The search and navigation tools are easy to ...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zendesk Support?

Zendesk's pricing is reasonable. It is not the cheapest solution nor the most expensive, but it provides value for money.

What needs improvement with Zendesk Support?

There could be improvements in integration, which can be achieved with APIs or tools like Zapier ( /products/zapier-reviews ). However, easier integration could enhance the usability. Multilingual ...

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Comparisons

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Compared 16% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

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Compared 12% of the time

SAP Crystal Reports vs Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services

Compared 9% of the time

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Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service vs Zendesk

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Product Reports

Microsoft SQL Servering Services

May 2025

Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services report

Download Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services product report

Download Zendesk product report

May 2025

Also Known As

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

Zendesk Support, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Sell

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

Zendesk Support is intuitive, and it's built with support agents in mind. Everything they need lives in a single, dynamic help desk interface so it's easy to be productive and manage customer interactions.

Sample Customers

CMS Wire, The New York Times

Mailchimp, Tesco, Vimeo, Instacart, Mediaocean, Slack, Uber