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SAP Crystal Reports vs Windward Core 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.1
SAP Crystal Reports delivers over 1000% ROI through Visual Studio integration, boosting sales despite training and database understanding costs.
Sentiment score
7.0
Windward Core enhances template design efficiencies, reduces costs, and increases productivity up to 70%, freeing IT resources.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.0
SAP Crystal Reports' support varies; some praise it, others turn to online communities or face scheduling and complexity challenges.
Sentiment score
8.4
Windward Core's service is praised for promptness, professionalism, effective communication, and proactive support, despite some troubleshooting concerns.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
SAP Crystal Reports excels in scalability for large enterprises, but smaller setups may face SDK and cost challenges.
Sentiment score
7.4
Windward Core is generally scalable, effectively handling demand, though some infrastructure and cost limitations affect performance.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
SAP Crystal Reports stability improved since 2011, with updates resolving crash issues, though some memory problems persist.
Sentiment score
7.6
Windward Core is praised for stability, reliable performance, and strong support, despite occasional random errors and upgrade issues.
 

Room For Improvement

SAP Crystal Reports needs improvements in customization, interface, exporting, and compatibility for better user efficiency and experience.
Windward Core needs improvements in compatibility, user interface, documentation, error handling, and feature enhancements like charts and interactivity.
 

Setup Cost

SAP Crystal Reports can be costly, but discounts and free software help manage expenses, requiring careful license model evaluation.
Windward Core offers flexible and competitive pricing, ideal for enterprises with varied needs, supporting multiple deployment models.
 

Valuable Features

SAP Crystal Reports offers flexible custom report creation with easy database connectivity, export options, and Business Objects integration.
Windward Core integrates with Office tools, enabling non-technical users to generate complex reports with customizable templates effortlessly.
 

Categories and Ranking

SAP Crystal Reports
Ranking in Reporting
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Windward Core
Ranking in Reporting
24th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
Document Generation Tools (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Reporting category, the mindshare of SAP Crystal Reports is 2.8%, down from 3.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Windward Core is 0.7%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Reporting
 

Featured Reviews

GhulamMustafa - PeerSpot reviewer
Data management and graphs help with decision-making and good at customization
The overall environment is the best. Data management, graphs, and layout – everything is the best, in my opinion. It is good at customization in context with Crystal Reports. I use Crystal Reports on the front end, and SQL Server on the back end. So we can build any kind of report and face no difficulties in our routine reporting. So, flexibility is of great importance to me.
CH
Strong layout and design capabilities; leverages every aspect available in Word-native formatting
The licensing key is a little bit twitchy. I'd like to see more HTML formatting support in templates. It has a basic stock of HTML formatting capability, but it doesn't have a rich vocabulary. I have to work around that sometimes. The help documentation and blog posts are extensive, but not always up to date. The error reports also need improvement. If you don't key it in right, it's a little hard to find the root cause. It gives you information as much as it can, but it doesn't really hone in and tell you explicitly what you should do to correct the problem.
report
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856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
12%
Real Estate/Law Firm
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with SAP Crystal Reports?
Maybe some Power BI-related features could be added, like dashboards or direct editing in reports. We use query language to build reports; this area could be improved more.
What is your primary use case for SAP Crystal Reports?
We use SAP Crystal Reports for reporting. We use it for financial reports like statements of accounts, trial balances, and other management reports, salary slips, and many other purposes.
What do you like most about SAP Crystal Reports?
We use SAP Crystal Reports for operational reporting.
Ask a question
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Also Known As

No data available
Windward, Windward Studios
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

City of Buenos Aires, ASR Group, Citrix, EarlySense, Usha International Limited, Automotive Resources International (ARI), LivePerson, Coelba (Grupo Neoenergia), RZD Russian Railways, National Basketball Association - NBA, TALLY WEiJL, El Machetazo, Young Heroes, Mozzart, Mitsui Knowledge Industry (MKI) , Surgutneftegas Open Joint Stock Company, The VELUX Group, AOK Bundesverband, AL-KO KOBER GROUP
HAL, Inc., Axe Group, White Clark Group, Blueprint Software, Aspect Security, Nucleus Software, LeBlanc’s Food Stores, South Sound 911, Aegon, Barclays, Fidelity Investments, ArisGlobal LLC, USDA, RepLink, AON Hewitt
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP Crystal Reports vs. Windward Core and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.