It is well known that SSRS is not easily usable for the average business user, especially for self-service reporting use-case. Modern BI tools offer more advanced and interactive data visualization capabilities compared to SSRS. They can create dynamic charts, graphs, dashboards, and interactive tabular reports that make it easier for users to understand and explore data.
Another reason to replace SSRS are embedded reports: ReportViewer supports only legacy .NET Framework apps and you simply cannot keep SSRS reports in modern .NET Core/NET6/NET8 apps.
A maintainance of many user-created SSRS reports may be difficult and painful; if you stuck with an old version of SSRS an upgrade also might need significant efforts.
Choosing the right replacement for SQL Server Reporting Services highly depends on the way how SSRS reports are used exactly in your company. In other words, you need to get clear understanding your organization's reporting requirements. This includes an identification of key features and functionalities that are must-have for your reports, such as data connectivity, visualization options, collaboration, and security.
| SSRS use-case | Alternative | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Embedded reports with parameters | SeekTable Embedded | $ |
SeekTable reports/dashboards can be embedded into any web application (including SaaS apps). |
| PowerBI Embedded | $$ |
If you find that your embedded usage requires PowerBI Premium (or just on-premises deployment) it becomes $$$. | |
| Self-service reporting for non-IT users | Metabase | (free) |
Metabase on-prem is free. Easy to use, simple interface. |
| SeekTable | $ |
Good for tabular reports / exports. Viewers are free users. White labeling. | |
| PowerBI | $$ |
A BI market leader. Can be expensive if you have many report viewers (per-user pricing). | |
| Tableau | $$$ |
Very good for low technically proficient users. Perfect for data visualization. Can be expensive if you have many report viewers (per-user pricing). | |
| Custom reports for printing with free-form layout | SeekTable custom dashboards | $ |
In SeekTable dashboards are controlled via HTML template which also affects PDF export output. This makes it possible to have a very custom PDF output (see this example). |
| Bold Reports | $ |
Report designer that is very similar to SSRS (RDL/RDLC compliant). Supported environments are Microsoft .NET/.NET Core. | |
| PBI Reports Builder | $$ |
PBI paginated reports are in fact modernized SSRS that is now a part of PowerBI. |