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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
5.7
SAP Crystal Reports greatly enhances ERP reporting and efficiency, offering ROI over 1000%, despite costly user training.
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
5.7
SAP Crystal Reports customer support is inconsistent, with mixed reviews, leading users to favor online resources and self-help solutions.
Sentiment score
8.4
Windward Core's service is praised for promptness, professionalism, effective communication, and proactive support, despite some troubleshooting concerns.
I have not encountered any problems requiring assistance.
SAP Technical Manager at VS Furniture Middle East
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
SAP Crystal Reports supports scalability and is suitable for medium to large enterprises, with room for scalability improvements.
Sentiment score
7.4
Windward Core is generally scalable, effectively handling demand, though some infrastructure and cost limitations affect performance.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
SAP Crystal Reports is stable on Windows, with Unix challenges and improved performance on specialized servers post-2011.
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 better visualization, modern tech integration, improved analytics, compatibility, and enhanced documentation and support.
Windward Core needs improvements in compatibility, user interface, documentation, error handling, and feature enhancements like charts and interactivity.
It would be beneficial to have easier integration with Azure, Microsoft Power Platform, and similar cloud technologies.
I'm at DTS Group
If it is closed due to any problem, it should be able to recover where I left off, similar to Excel, which should be a feature for SAP Crystal Reports.
SAP Technical Manager at VS Furniture Middle East
Enabling better practices and testing to enhance data accuracy and efficiency for company sectors.
Inhouse SAP Business One Sr. Consultant at a retailer with 501-1,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

SAP Crystal Reports pricing perceptions vary; some find it costly, but discounts and volume deals can reduce expenses.
Windward Core offers flexible and competitive pricing, ideal for enterprises with varied needs, supporting multiple deployment models.
 

Valuable Features

SAP Crystal Reports provides flexible data connectivity, custom design, and efficient reporting, enhancing decision-making and client communication.
Windward Core integrates with Office tools, enabling non-technical users to generate complex reports with customizable templates effortlessly.
SAP Crystal Reports has had a very positive impact and benefits. It's a powerful tool to design any kind of report if you have knowledge of the database, and it can attach to both HANA and SQL databases.
SAP Technical Manager at VS Furniture Middle East
The best features SAP Crystal Reports offers are powerful data connectivity, customized report design, interactive and visual reports, import, export, sharing options, and automation and scheduling.
I'm at DTS Group
The efficiency gained by our organization from SAP Crystal Reports is measurable through multiple export formats such as PDF and Excel.
Inhouse SAP Business One Sr. Consultant at a retailer with 501-1,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

SAP Crystal Reports
Ranking in Reporting
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Windward Core
Ranking in Reporting
19th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
Document Generation Tools (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Reporting category, the mindshare of SAP Crystal Reports is 2.5%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Windward Core is 1.2%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Reporting Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
SAP Crystal Reports2.5%
Windward Core1.2%
Other96.3%
Reporting
 

Featured Reviews

Salman Mukhtar Baig - PeerSpot reviewer
SAP Technical Manager at VS Furniture Middle East
Unlock data insights with seamless integration and robust reporting features
I assess the impact of SAP Crystal Reports' dynamic parameters on the customization and flexibility of my reports as very good. Sometimes it creates a problem when it suddenly closes during work due to improper shutdowns, but most of the time it's beneficial since I can fetch the data in one report very efficiently, which is great for the company. The sub reports in SAP Crystal Reports help me enhance the depth and detail of my reports by allowing me to use multiple sets of records, especially when I have very large requirements, such as company dashboards that show what sales, purchases, productions, and HR are doing. Using sub reports as the main report is very beneficial because I can pull multiple department data into the main report. Over the years, SAP Crystal Reports has had a very positive impact and benefits. It's a powerful tool to design any kind of report if you have knowledge of the database, and it can attach to both HANA and SQL databases. I can also connect this data with Excel, which makes it a very powerful tool for me.
CH
Sr. Systems Analyst at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees
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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879,768 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Performing Arts
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise22
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with SAP Crystal Reports?
SAP Crystal Reports could be improved with more modern user-friendly interfaces and better integration with cloud platforms and AI tools. It would be beneficial to have easier integration with Azur...
What is your primary use case for SAP Crystal Reports?
I have been using SAP Crystal Reports for six months. I am using SAP Crystal Reports to develop data-driven reports and use customer data printing. When I use SAP Crystal Reports for customer data ...
What do you like most about SAP Crystal Reports?
We use SAP Crystal Reports for operational reporting.
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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: December 2025.
879,768 professionals have used our research since 2012.