First; the blog will look into what Power BI and SSRS are, the fundamental differences between the two, and then the SSRS vs Power BI debate. Later you will give a brief reason as to which one is better for you.
So without any further ado, let’s begin.
What is Power BI?
Power BI is a reporting and data analysis tool developed by Microsoft. It’s a Business Intelligence; hence BI, application with a plethora of user-friendly and intelligent capabilities. It also provides data preparation, data connectivity, data modelling, data transformation, and other services.
What is SSRS?
SSRS, or SQL Server Reporting Service, is primarily a server-based reporting tool. Although quite similar to Power BI, SSRS is more traditional in its approach. In general, it is used in businesses to visualize data as well as create, view, and share reports. Furthermore, SSRS has a programming interface as well as a collection of processing components.
SSRS, unlike Power BI, necessitates more manual effort due to the lack of graphical drag-and-drop functionality. It also necessitates the development of more programming-based reporting tools. SSRS is another Microsoft product that’s linked to SQL formatting tools and Visual Studio.
Different Types of SSRS Generated Reports
- Cached reports
- Linked reports
- Drill-through reports
- Drill-down reports
- Parameterized reports
- Subreports
- Ad-hoc reports
- Snapshot reports
- Click-through reports
Let’s look at the differences between Power BI and SSRS now that we have a better understanding of both.
Fundamental Differences Between SSRS and Power BI
We’ll look at the fundamental distinctions in between the two BI tools in this section. We’ll also talk about Power BI Report Server (PBIRS) and compare Power BI Reporting Server to SSRS in this section.Unlike SSRS, Power BI is free. In SSRS, we need to purchase the SQL Server license. However, to use PBIRS, we need to buy the premium license of Power BI.
- PBIRS can be thought of as the more feature-rich version of SSRS.
- Power BI is coupled with Cortana for an AI-based experience, however SSRS does not have this feature.
- Power BI is more graphical and current, whereas SSRS takes longer and requires more manual effort to analyze data and generate reports.
After reading about SSRS versus Power BI Report Server, it will be much easier for us to understand the differences between the two.
SSRS vs Power BI
We’ll study about the differences between Power BI and SSRS depending on numerous elements and parameters now that we’ve learned about their broad comparison. The contrasts between these tools are listed in the table below.
| Parameters | SSRS | Power BI |
| Technology | It is a traditional server-based software that is used to analyze data and generate reports. | It’s a business intelligence solution that helps us to handle data analysis and report production. |
| History | The SQL programme was first released in 2004. | Power BI is newer and more technologically advanced than SSRS, having been released in 2017. |
| Benefits | In terms of graphics, SSRS is rather limited. It does, however, have an excellent drill-down feature. | With its powerful graphical features, Power BI is an easy-to-use and user-friendly tool for creating, publishing, and sharing reports. |
| Implementation and Compatibility | Its only capability is to create and share server-based reports. | For both server-based and cloud-based platforms, it can create, publish, and share dashboards and reports. |
| Accessibility | SSRS is only available on computers and the web. | This utility is easily accessible as a mobile or desktop application, or through online browsers. |
| Licensing | We will almost certainly need to obtain a SQL Server license if we wish to use SSRS. | The basic versions of Power BI and its reporting server are available for free. We must purchase a license to gain access to premium services such as collaboration, security, and gateway. |
| Components | It’s a server-based visualization and report production solution for businesses. | It’s an open-source platform with HTML5 support and cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) for data analysis. |
| Usage | SSRS is less user-friendly because it concentrates much more on programming and coding interface. | It is significantly more user-friendly because to its drag-and-drop functionality and sophisticated GUI. |
| Data Dependency and Sources | Only organized and semi-structured data can be used with SSRS. | It can work with both structured and unstructured data with ease. |
| Acceptance | Although it uses outdated technologies, it is more widely used than Power BI. | Power BI has the potential to completely dominate the BI market. Many firms prefer it to SSRS as a reporting server. |
Which One Is Better SSRS vs Power BI?
In the debate of SSRS vs Power BI: which is better we would say that Power BI is. The reason for Power BI – being a hot choice for many professionals, be it a Data Engineers, Database Administrator, Data Analyst and Business Intelligence Professionals are due to its superior capabilities, which are listed below:
- Reports and dashboards are included with the SaaS solution. It combines data cleansing, data transmission, data modeling, and data visualization into a single solution.
- Both on-premises and in the cloud, Power BI enables a safe connection (Row-level Security).
- Data for Power BI can come from a variety of places, including Excel, SQL, CSV, Web files, Java APIs, and more.
- Other products like as Dynamics 365, SharePoint, Office 365, Hadoop, SAP, MailChimp, Salesforce, Spark, and others are easily integrated.
- AI, ML, NLP, and Microsoft’s Digital Assistant, Cortana, support real-time updating of reports and dashboards.
Conclusion!
We believe that SSRS is much more likely to coding after conducting a comprehensive study. SSRS will work for you if you have a technical knowledge, expertise and a thorough understanding of programming and coding. However, because of its drag-and-drop functionality and excellent visualization tools, Power BI is simpler to use. Power BI is technologically sophisticated and much more advanced and has greater graphical features than SSRS.
We hope all your queries regarding SSRS vs Power BI have been answered in this blog. If you still wish to consult you can reach out to the Folio3 team.
