Open source reporting tools for SQL Server are becoming more advanced with each new release. There are plenty of free report writer software available on the Internet. It is possible to write reports with Microsoft SQL Server tools by installing open source reporting tools like JasperReports, Crystal Reports and Pentaho BI.
You want to create reports on SQL Server but without having to pay for all the bells and whistles of expensive reporting solutions? Great! Because there are plenty of great tools you can use right out of the box.
Sprinkle Data
Sprinkle is an all in one no-code data analytics tool. Provides ability to integrate, blend and model data without writing code.
Pricing: Free plan, with paid plans starting from $200-$500
Pros:
- Does not require data to be loaded into a BI tool. Works directly on the data warehouse.
- Capable of connecting to a vast set of data sources like MySQL, Kafka, Kinesis, PostgreSQL, Hubspot, MongoDB, etc. See the complete list here Supported Data Sources
- Different datasets can be joined together using the data modeling interface without coding. Supports semi-structured data.
- The segmentation feature enables business users to do Exploratory data analysis on their own without depending on the analytics team to build reports.
- Sprinkle allows users to enable Slack and Email notifications and it also has embedded analytic features, where any users can access the dashboard without accessing the tool.
Cons:
- Downloading charts in PDF format not supported
- Currently Git integration is not supported
- Row level access control available only in higher plans
Metabase
Metabase is an open source graphical interface that helps in creating business intelligence and analytics graphs seamlessly.
Pricing: Starts at $100/month to $300/month business plans, Enterprise edition is tailored for your requirements.
Pros:
- An open-source tool, preferably used by non-technical users as it doesn’t require complex coding.
- Metabase supports multiple relational and non relational databases as datasources. For example, Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, MongoDB, MySQL, Snowflake, etc. See the full list here Data sources
- Zero-code required for creating reports, dashboards and visualizations, and for complex queries, SQL can be used
- With pulses, updates can be sent on specific queries to Slack channel or through Email.
Cons:
- Doesn’t allow joining of data, metabase works well only with a single data source and struggles when it comes to multiple data sources.
- Data source integrations are very limited when compared to competitors.
- Users prefer having API integrations to most third party applications.
Chartio
Chartio is a data exploration solution for all, this cloud based BI tool connects with your data in order to provide business analytics in the form of dashboards and charts.
Pricing: Starts at $400/month and goes upto $900/month. Users can also request a quote for the enterprise version.
Pros:
- Chartio is capable of data transformations, data blending and also has data sharing capabilities.
- The tool is well suited for advanced users as the drag and drop functionality are not as easy when compared to competitors.
- Chartio supports hundreds of relational and non relational databases. Access the full list here Data sources
- The tools allow users to combine and compare reports from various sources, say, moosend’s email campaign history can be compared to Kissmetrics’ data.
Cons:
- The UI is not friendly, and takes a tad bit of time for users to get used.
- Doesn’t support embedded analytics in the base package.
- Not the best in class visualization features and the appearance isn’t much appealing.
Redash
Redash is a Business Intelligence tool that runs SQL queries and builds web-based visualization and dashboards as per your requirements.
Pricing: Starts at $49/month and goes up to $450/month.
Pros:
- Redash has a vast array of visualizations that users can create and it supports most data sources. Access the complete list here Supported Data Sources.
- Suitable for advanced users; Any query results can be used as data sources which can be joint with different databases to make advanced reports.
- The tool has an interactive query editor which shares both the dataset and the query that generated it.
- With this tool, auto notifications can be enabled, reminders can be set easily and alerts on breaching the preset value.
Cons:
- Everything needs SQL querying, this makes it hard for the non technical users.
- Old school data visualization feature and also very limited configurations.
- Works best when a single SQL data source is used, finds it hard to work when multiple data sources are used.
Holistics
Holistics is a self-service BI platform that empowers business users to create their own charts without writing SQL or going to the technical team. With Holistics, data teams define business metrics, datasets and reports for business users. Business users can consume the predefined reports, or build their own reports with simple, visual report builders.
Pricing: Paid plans, range from $100-$500/month
Pros
- 100% cloud, can access from anywhere in the world
- Drag-and-Drop interface for Non-Technical Users
- Great support team
- Powerful delivery capabilities: Email/Slack/Google Sheets Schedule and Alerts, Shareable Links, Embedded Analytics
- Advanced SQL Editor: Version History, Autocomplete, SQL Snippet, Highlighting, Auto-formatting, Query History, Custom Advanced Logic…
- Unique data modelling for scalable organizations
- Flexible and scalable pricing for both startups and enterprises
- Analytics As-code: applying software engineering best practices to analytics workflow, with dbt integration and Git version control
Cons
- Young product, sometimes has bugs
- There are some features still in progress (PDF Dashboard,…)
- Strong permission control but complicated for small companies
Check out how Holistics work or sign up for a free 14-day trial! No credit card is required.
Metabase
Pricing: Free (on-premise), $85/month or $749/month (cloud)
Metabase is the easy, open-source BI tool for everyone in your company to ask questions and learn from data. Available in both cloud and on-premise versions.
Pros
- Open Source
- Simple, Neat UI
- Free
- Lightweight
- Allow non-tech users to query from data
Cons
- Don’t allow multiple data sources
- Limited integrations
- Limited variety of charts and settings
- Weak permission control
Mode Analytics
Pricing: Free plan available (but with limited features), paid plans starts at $800/month.
Mode is a web-based SQL data analysis platform that brings SQL, Python and R together to help your team analyze, visualize and share data.
Pros
- Advanced SQL Editor: Autocomplete, Highlighting, Query History…
- Python, R Integrations
- Customizable HTML Notebooks
- Shareable Links
- Online SQL Course
Cons
- Limited in visualizations and sources
- Limited in access control
- Business users can’t get insight by themselves
- No data modelling layer
FineReport
FineReport is a reporting tool that is free for personal use, without time and function limits.
The Excel-like interface is easy for users to generate, export, and print complex reports or irregular reports. Its capabilities of excel reporting tools, such as importing data from excel in batches, make creating reports from excel be incredibly convenient.
The data entry function makes this reporting software distinctive from others. Users can write the data back to the database via the web reports created by FineReport.
Besides, various open APIs make FineReport more flexible than open-source reporting tools to be integrated with other systems, and more efficiently to be customized.
The other stunning features of this software include,
- Open APIs for customization
- Dynamic Reports
- Query reports
- HTML Reports
- Automation Reports
- Adaptive display on mobile, tablet, TV screens
- Report Management
JasperReports
JasperReports Server Community Edition is Jaspersoft’s free version. It is one of the most popular open-source reporting tools. It is licensed under GPLv2 and is written in Java. This reporting tool supports multiple data sources, as well as supports various exporting formats such as PDF, HTML, CSV, and XML.
JasperReports also includes multiple components:
- JasperReports Library- an open-source reporting engine library
- JasperReports Server – a standalone, embeddable report server that analyzes data and provides scheduled task services.
- Jaspersoft Studio- an Eclipse-based report designer that creates complex reports, including charts, images, subreports, crossovers, and more.
- Jaspersoft ETL – an open-source ETL system that is easy to deploy and execute, creating a comprehensive data warehouse and data set.
iReport
iReport is a free and open-source report designer designed for the JasperReports Library and JasperReports Server. It can create complex reports such as charts, images, sub-reports, cross-tables, etc. The documents can be published and exported in a variety of document formats.
JFreeChart
JFreeChart is a 100% open-source Java programming drawing gallery that is easy to extend. It can generate line graphs, bar charts, pie charts, graphs, area charts, Gantt charts, dashboards, mixed graphs, and other charts. These charts can be exported as PNG, JPEG pictures.
- It is free, stable and lightweight, supporting multiple chart types
- It is a flexible design that is easily extensible and applied to both server-side and client-side applications
- It supports a variety of exporting types, including Swing components and JavaFX components, image files (including PNG and JPEG), and vector graphics file formats (including PDF, EPS, and SVG)
- JFreeChart is open source, which is under on the GNU general public license (LGPL) open source license
Pentaho
Pentaho is an open-source set of tools, including reporting designer, reporting engine, and the reporting SDK. The Community Edition is free, licensed under the Apache Software License.
It allows you to create reports that support the exporting reports to Excel, PDF, HTML, text, rich text, XML, and CSV. The generated reports can easily transform a variety of sources into readable data.
BIRT
BIRT is an eclipse-based open-source reporting tool for creating reports that can be embedded in rich clients and web applications, completely free for business use.
BIRT consists of two main components: a visual report designer for creating BIRT designs, and runtime components that can be deployed to any Java environment.
The BIRT project also includes a diagram engine that can be integrated into one of the BIRT application diagrams.
BIRT design templates are saved as XML and have access to many different data sources, including the JDO data store, jfire script objects, POJOs, SQL databases, Web services, and XML.
Seal Report
Sealed Report is an open-source reporting generator written entirely in C# for the Microsoft.net Framework. It provides a complete framework for generating daily reports and dashboards from any database. The product focuses on ease of installation and reports design. Once installed, reports can be created and published quickly. The component is entirely open-source and written in the C# language.
Key features include:
1. Dynamic SQL data sources: you can use SQL or have the Seal engine build dynamic SQL to query the database;
2. Local pivot tables: the elements can be directly displayed in pivot tables and reports via drag and drop. HTML5 charts are also supported.
Open Reports
Open Reports provide web reporting solutions that allow users to view dynamically created reports in PDF, HTML, or XLS format through a browser. OpenReports is developed in Java. It supports a variety of open-source reporting engines, including JasperReports, JFreeReport, JXLS, and Eclipse BIRT, to provide a wide range of reporting requirements.
Easy Report
EasyReport is an Excel plug-in written in c# and is an easy-to-use database reporting software that supports MS SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite. Its main function is to convert the row and column structures found in SQL statements into HTML tables. It also supports RowSpan and ColSpan. The Easy Report supports the export of Excel reports, chart display, and fixed table header and left column functions.
Besides, it has the function of timing task, supports query engine (Hive, etc.) for the big data product, provides the REST API service interface. The new version adds the user and authority management module. Mybatis framework is used for data access to facilitate secondary development. It has a 15-day free trial.
Conclusion
Data and reports are often the two biggest challenges faced by an organization. This article will help you identify and use tools available to you to get the most out of data and reports. We’ll look at free reporting tools, open source reporting tools, drag-and-drop report builder tools, and finally at the hidden cost of commercial reports.