QlikView vs SQL Server comparison

Why PeerSpot?

The compared Qlik and Microsoft solutions aren't in the same category. Qlik is ranked #13 in RT , with an average rating of 8.3, and holds a 3.5% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #1 in SQL , with an average rating of 8.2, and holds a 10.3% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Qlik users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

QlikView

Read 163 QlikView reviews

10,884 Views
6,639 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

SQL Server

Read 275 SQL Server reviews

23,591 Views
20,996 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

QlikView

SQL Server

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between QlikView and SQL Server based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Salesforce, Plotly and others in Reporting.

To learn more, read our detailed Reporting Report (Updated: August 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Reporting

August 2026

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Helped 911,839 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:

ROI

Sentiment score

6.4

QlikView ROI appears through time savings, decision-making improvements, and efficient deployment, despite licensing complexity impacting perception.

Sentiment score

7.0

SQL Server provides strong ROI with cost-effective pricing, essential features, and efficiency in analytical tasks, ideal for small applications.

The biggest return on investment is the time saving for the customer.

Morne Ayres

Managing Director at Hurricnae

For more quotes and insights, download the QlikView report

SQL Server is the most cost-effective with good human resource availability to manage it.

reviewer2787105

Manager - Production Database Administration at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

All applications need our repository to provide services for our online business or our customers, so the return is good.

SandroChauca

Infrastructure Coordinator at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

With Standard edition, they have saved a ton of money and they are really happy about that.

Peter Larsson

Data Warehouse Lead at Resurs Bank AB (publ.)

For more quotes and insights, download the SQL Server report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.1

QlikView's customer support is highly rated, with quick responses, a helpful community, and generally strong availability despite geographic factors.

Sentiment score

6.5

Microsoft's SQL Server support is generally helpful, though some users experience delays and desire improvements in speed and clarity.

I would rate the customer support a solid 10.

Morne Ayres

Managing Director at Hurricnae

I am totally satisfied with technical support from Qlik.

Srdjan Grbic

Financial Controller with task of Business Intelligence Implementation at a wholesaler/distributor with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the QlikView report

I give their technical support a rating of ten out of ten.

Peter Larsson

Data Warehouse Lead at Resurs Bank AB (publ.)

There was a time when Microsoft support provided very crisp answers, but over time, they have diluted their support to third parties, leading to a drop in support quality.

reviewer2787105

Manager - Production Database Administration at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

When we created support tickets, the experience was very positive.

Gus Mtz

Subdirector of Support for Production at Servicios Electrónicos Globales -Oficial

For more quotes and insights, download the SQL Server report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.0

QlikView scales well with efficient resource management, but superior scalability features are found in Qlik Sense, requiring robust infrastructure.

Sentiment score

7.0

SQL Server scales well but faces challenges with very large databases and seeks improvements for competitive scalability, especially in cloud.

If you want better performance with a larger volume of data, you can simply add an additional server.

Srdjan Grbic

Financial Controller with task of Business Intelligence Implementation at a wholesaler/distributor with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the QlikView report

The server where we installed it has grown from 64 gigabytes in RAM to 256 gigabytes, demonstrating significant scalability capabilities.

Gus Mtz

Subdirector of Support for Production at Servicios Electrónicos Globales -Oficial

Most of the time, they simply add another node in the availability group.

Peter Larsson

Data Warehouse Lead at Resurs Bank AB (publ.)

I can scale both horizontally and vertically without challenges.

reviewer2787105

Manager - Production Database Administration at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SQL Server report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.7

Users rate QlikView's stability highly, with issues mainly due to infrastructure or large data, resolved with hardware tweaks.

Sentiment score

7.6

SQL Server is praised for stability and reliability despite occasional configuration challenges and rare performance issues.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the QlikView report

There was an issue with memory-optimized tables, but it was resolved in 2025, allowing you to remove that file group, which was not possible before.

Peter Larsson

Data Warehouse Lead at Resurs Bank AB (publ.)

All applications supporting SQL Server in my experience work very well across various industries including telecom, finance, banking, ad, entertainment, and workforce management.

reviewer2787105

Manager - Production Database Administration at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

SQL Server is absolutely stable.

Hemanthreddy Vakiti

Data engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SQL Server report

Room For Improvement

QlikView needs a more intuitive interface, better scalability, integration, predictive analytics, and cost-effective licensing for improved user experience.

SQL Server users seek better integration, improved performance, security, simpler licensing, enhanced user interface, and increased automation.

In QlikView, I believe the improvement that should be made is to bring the costs down, as you'll have to be competitive with Power BI, aiming for at least a 30% reduction to stop the hemorrhaging to Power BI.

Morne Ayres

Managing Director at Hurricnae

It would be beneficial to have AI or ML features in QlikView.

Srdjan Grbic

Financial Controller with task of Business Intelligence Implementation at a wholesaler/distributor with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the QlikView report

It is fine to do a first release that works, but you cannot simply abandon it in the following years without service packs and improvements.

Peter Larsson

Data Warehouse Lead at Resurs Bank AB (publ.)

I would appreciate using Microsoft Pro as it can integrate with Excel or, with a simple query, consume information from the database using Microsoft Excel.

SandroChauca

Infrastructure Coordinator at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

When we consider the price for replication in another site, the pricing becomes prohibitive.

Gus Mtz

Subdirector of Support for Production at Servicios Electrónicos Globales -Oficial

For more quotes and insights, download the SQL Server report

Setup Cost

QlikView pricing is variable and can be costly, but strategic planning can maximize ROI for organizations.

SQL Server pricing is competitive yet costly for enterprises, with users seeking more flexible, cloud-like pricing models.

The license cost per user or per year for QlikView is about 500 Euros annually.

Morne Ayres

Managing Director at Hurricnae

I would rate the pricing for QlikView as not cheap, but it is reasonable.

Srdjan Grbic

Financial Controller with task of Business Intelligence Implementation at a wholesaler/distributor with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the QlikView report

Cost savings on human resources for Windows plus SQL Server versus other solutions.

reviewer2787105

Manager - Production Database Administration at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

I think the pricing is high, but I am not sure how much our organization is paying, as I am not part of the management team.

Hemanthreddy Vakiti

Data engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SQL Server report

Valuable Features

QlikView offers powerful data analysis with dynamic dashboards, intuitive interface, and rapid visualization for enhanced business performance and insights.

SQL Server excels in high availability, security, user interface, integration, performance, scalability, data processing tools, and customer support.

The best features in QlikView are rapid development, the fact that I can do what I want in QlikView, and full control along with ease of use.

Morne Ayres

Managing Director at Hurricnae

Building metrics using simple language, similar to what you have in Excel, is what I have found most valuable in QlikView.

Srdjan Grbic

Financial Controller with task of Business Intelligence Implementation at a wholesaler/distributor with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the QlikView report

Always On HADR functionality is one of the features that I use on a daily basis and one of my most used features, saving me lots of time, especially since previously I had to build a SQL cluster and Windows clusters that had many dependencies on shared infrastructure, but now with Always On, it is too stable with easy management and almost zero maintenance, which SQL Server handles itself.

reviewer2787105

Manager - Production Database Administration at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

I have been working with SQL Server for a long time, and it works well for me as I am using it in different applications, such as web applications, Windows applications, or the data warehouse reporting.

SandroChauca

Infrastructure Coordinator at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

The best features of SQL Server are availability and stability.

Gus Mtz

Subdirector of Support for Production at Servicios Electrónicos Globales -Oficial

For more quotes and insights, download the SQL Server report

Categories and Ranking

QlikView

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

163

Ranking in other categories

Reporting (13th), Embedded BI (7th)

SQL Server

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

275

Ranking in other categories

Relational Databases Tools (1st), Database Management Systems (DBMS) (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

QlikView and SQL Server aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. QlikView is designed for Reporting and holds a mindshare of 3.5%, down 4.4% compared to last year.
SQL Server, on the other hand, focuses on Relational Databases Tools, holds 10.3% mindshare, down 15.3% since last year.

Reporting Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
QlikView	3.5%
Tableau Enterprise	13.7%
Microsoft Power BI	12.7%
Other	70.1%

Reporting

Relational Databases Tools Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
SQL Server	10.3%
Oracle Database	10.2%
IBM Db2 Database	6.6%
Other	72.9%

Relational Databases Tools

Featured Reviews

Srdjan Grbic

Financial Controller with task of Business Intelligence Implementation at a wholesaler/distributor with 1,001-5,000 employees

Daily invoice analytics has become streamlined and complex data modeling is now simplified

We are not using analytics features and possibly predictive analytics and forecasting features in QlikView, although they are available. QlikView is very flexible, but we are currently using only tabular presentation of data because that is what we need. Presenting a large volume of data in QlikView with graphics can be overwhelming for the majority of people who want to see a lot of information in one picture. It would be beneficial to have AI or ML features in QlikView. However, I think they will decommission QlikView, and AI features are already available in Qlik Sense, so you would need to migrate to that platform.

Read full review

Peter Larsson

Data Warehouse Lead at Resurs Bank AB (publ.)

Ledger and seamless integrations have strengthened trusted analytics and unified workloads

SQL Server's high availability and disaster recovery features work for supporting mission-critical applications, but there is much more to wish for. These features are not quite ready yet, although they do function. However, they could be significantly better. High availability and disaster recovery features should be improved in the next releases. I have noticed that everything could be improved or enhanced in the future, particularly temporal tables and window functions. Sometimes, I believe Microsoft releases features to stay ahead of competitors, but they do not make them feature-rich or feature-complete. They release something to be ahead of leaders and then seem to forget to maintain and upgrade them. I want Microsoft to pay more attention and be more mindful about the things they implement. It is fine to do a first release that works, but you cannot simply abandon it in the following years without service packs and improvements. You must continue to build on features rather than forgetting about them.

Read full review

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Comparison Review

it_user79932

Senior Manager - BI Head with 5,001-10,000 employees

Feb 4, 2015

Comparison of SAP BO, Tableau, QlikView, Cognos, Microsoft, OBIEE and Pentaho

1. SAP BO/BI Enterprise scalability Security Ease of use Semantic layer 2. Tableau Visualization Data discovery Turnaround time 3. IBM Cognos Enterprise scalability Security In-memory feature 4. MS BI - Flexibility 5. Pentaho - Open source but still enterprise grade 6. QlikView Data…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Construction Company

12%

Outsourcing Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

36%

Outsourcing Company

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	73
Midsize Enterprise	36
Large Enterprise	76

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	119
Midsize Enterprise	60
Large Enterprise	119

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for QlikView?

I would rate the pricing for QlikView as not cheap, but it is reasonable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with QlikView?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for QlikView?

The primary use case involves analyzing data on a daily invoice level with QlikView. Building metrics using simple language, similar to what you have in Excel, is what I have found most valuable in...

See all answers

Would you say the price of SQL Server is high compared to that of similar products?

SQL Server is fairly priced because it has various editions, depending on the number of users, servers, or core packs you are using. If you compare the product to others in this category, the price...

See all answers

Has using SQL Server helped your organization in any way?

SQL Server has helped my organization through partitioning to distribute the workload, as it splits them up into smaller pieces so the machines can easily deal with it. However, this comes with a h...

See all answers

Which authentication mode is best for SQL Server?

My company connects through SQL Server authentication. We have company Windows accounts, but we do not want to connect the two, out of security concerns and to keep things separated for our own pur...

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Power BI vs QlikView

Compared 13% of the time

Tableau Enterprise vs QlikView

Compared 12% of the time

Amazon QuickSight vs QlikView

Compared 4% of the time

Zendesk vs QlikView

Compared 3% of the time

Oracle OBIEE vs QlikView

Compared 3% of the time

More QlikView Competitors

IBM Db2 Database vs SQL Server

Compared 27% of the time

Oracle Database vs SQL Server

Compared 7% of the time

SAP HANA vs SQL Server

Compared 5% of the time

MySQL vs SQL Server

Compared 5% of the time

Teradata vs SQL Server

Compared 5% of the time

More SQL Server Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

QlikView

August 2026

Download QlikView product report

Buyer's Guide

SQL Server

August 2026

Download SQL Server product report

Also Known As

No data available

Microsoft SQL Server, MSSQL, MS SQL

Overview

QlikView enhances data analysis with its associative data model and rapid in-memory processing, providing dynamic dashboards and robust visualization, while efficient data integration allows connections to multiple sources.

QlikView offers powerful analytics and insight generation capabilities through its integration with Salesforce, enabling real-time sales data access. Its customizable dashboards are complemented by scripting for complex calculations and QVDs for performance optimization. Designed to be user-friendly, it supports ETL processes and diverse data browsing, allowing users to interact with data intuitively. However, there is room for improving licensing complexities, scalability, and self-service functionality. Additional enhancements are desired in visualization, integration with Qlik Sense, and predictive analytics support.

What are QlikView's key features?

Data Integration: Connects seamlessly with multiple data sources for diverse data access.
Associative Data Model: Enhances data discovery and analysis.
In-memory Technology: Offers rapid data processing for efficient analysis.
Customization Options: Allows personalized dashboards and visualizations.
Salesforce Integration: Provides real-time access to sales data.
Scripting Capabilities: Facilitates complex calculations and analytics.
QVD Performance: Optimizes data loading and processing speeds.

What benefits should you look for in QlikView reviews?

Enhanced Data Access: Seamless integration allows widespread data connectivity.
Rapid Insights: In-memory technology speeds up analysis.
Flexible Customization: Tools enable tailored visualizations.
User-friendly Interaction: Non-technical users can navigate data easily.

QlikView finds use in building business intelligence dashboards across sectors, integrating with Salesforce for analytics, supporting financial planning, and tracking sales. Its intuitive interface aids manufacturing companies in KPI monitoring and informs commercial decisions. The tool enhances reporting, ETL processes, and diverse data source integration, facilitating offline data access.

Qlik

SQL Server is a comprehensive database management system known for ease of use, robust performance, and seamless Microsoft integration, making it a preferred choice for data management and analysis needs.

SQL Server offers high availability with Always On availability groups and dynamic memory configuration. It integrates effortlessly with Microsoft products via tools like SSMS and Visual Studio. Supporting advanced features such as replication, clustering, and in-memory OLTP, it provides a versatile platform for managing and analyzing significant data volumes securely and efficiently. While it shines in integration with .NET applications and business intelligence, there are opportunities to improve its scalability and integration with open-source platforms. Its licensing costs can be a barrier, and enhancements to management tools for non-technical users, along with better setup processes, would increase its appeal.

What are SQL Server's most important features?

User-Friendly GUI: Simplifies interaction with a visually intuitive interface.
High Availability: Always On availability groups ensure data redundancy.
Dynamic Memory Configuration: Efficient resource allocation for optimal performance.
Strong Transaction Management: Reliable processing of concurrent transactions.
Advanced Features: Includes replication, clustering, and in-memory OLTP.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Efficiency: Streamlined processes for faster data management and analysis.
Compatibility: Smooth integration with Microsoft products enhances productivity.
Security: Robust features protect against data breaches.
Adaptability: Supports various enterprise needs, from small to large scale.

SQL Server is implemented across industries for database management, data warehousing, and business intelligence. Companies in finance, ERP, and cloud deployments leverage its capabilities for transactional processing, .NET program integration, and reporting. Enterprises particularly benefit from its scalability and cost-efficiency when integrated with Azure for small and medium-sized operations.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Canon, Gatorade, Amcor, Panasonic, Fila, Cambridge University Hospitals, Global Retail Bank, North Yorkshire Police department, Lanoo Group Publishers, and AonGroep Nederland.

Microsoft SQL Server is used by businesses in every industry, including Great Western Bank, Aviva, the Volvo Car Corporation, BMW, Samsung, Principality Building Society, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Salesforce, Plotly and others in Reporting. Updated: August 2026.

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