Knowage vs SAP Crystal Reports comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Knowage and SAP are both solutions in the Reporting category. Knowage is ranked #22, while SAP is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.0. Knowage holds a 2.0% mindshare in RT, compared to SAP’s 2.4% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of Knowage users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of SAP users who would recommend it.

Knowage

Read 18 Knowage reviews

4,165 Views
2,083 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

SAP Crystal Reports

Read 52 SAP Crystal Reports reviews

4,724 Views
4,110 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Knowage

SAP Crystal Reports

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

SAP Crystal Reports and Knowage compete in the business intelligence tools category. Knowage seems to have the upper hand due to its open-source accessibility and cost-effectiveness.

Features: SAP Crystal Reports is known for dynamic parameters, sub-reports, and robust database connectivity, allowing for generating complex reports with precision. Knowage offers open-source accessibility, integration with data analytics tools, and strong self-service BI functionalities, enhancing adaptability and reducing costs.

Room for Improvement: SAP Crystal Reports could improve graphical visualizations, integration with modern analytical tools, and memory usage. Knowage faces challenges in robustness and user interface aesthetics, and needs more global parameter control and improved documentation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both SAP Crystal Reports and Knowage are on-premises solutions, with SAP Crystal Reports also being available in hybrid and public cloud environments. Customer service for SAP Crystal Reports is mixed, while Knowage faces challenges due to limited community resources typical of open-source solutions.

Pricing and ROI: SAP Crystal Reports is considered costly, with a good ROI due to its extensive capabilities. Its licensing model can be expensive, especially with maintenance fees. Knowage, being open-source, is highly cost-effective, offering significant cost savings despite potential limitations.

To learn more, read our detailed Knowage vs. SAP Crystal Reports Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Knowage vs. SAP Crystals

September 2026

Download the complete report

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Knowage

Ranking in Reporting

22nd

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (32nd)

SAP Crystal Reports

Ranking in Reporting

14th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Reporting category, the mindshare of Knowage is 2.0%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Crystal Reports is 2.4%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Reporting Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
SAP Crystal Reports	2.4%
Knowage	2.0%
Other	95.6%

Reporting

Featured Reviews

AbdulshukoorMohammed

General Manager Information Technology & Enterprise Applications Manager at OXFORD HOLDING

Easy to customize, cross-platform capable, and very stable

The only challenge here is that it's a Java-based platform. It requires very high technical skills. When we come to the integration with the single sign-on facilities, that part is very challenging. In Power BI and other tools, it's very easy to integrate with active directory and single sign-on, and identity management is very easy in other business intelligence tools. However, when it comes to Knowage, it's a bit heavy, it's time-consuming sometimes, it's not very fast, and definitely not as fast as other business intelligence tools in terms of getting graphical reports. The solution could be cheaper.

Read full review

Salman Mukhtar Baig

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Nice features available in SpagoBI compared with other open-source BI are Auditing, Collaborative BI, Query By Example, and User Profiling."

"The most valuable feature of SpagoBI is that it is open source and 100% free without limits."

"Unified interface, a lot of tools for BI, easy configuration, standalone SDK."

"The concept of engines is quite powerful allowing the user to work with report authoring/provisioning tools of their choice."

"It improves sales and products, which motivates employees."

"I am satisfied with the product in general given what the company invested in it, which was just our time."

"In terms of ROI, much better than any other solution when it offer full fledged features in open source, planned to have direct contact with SpagoBI for better support."

"We can easily do our own customizations."

More Knowage pros

"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."

"Pixel-perfect formatting is extremely customizable."

"It is a pillar of our product to provide embedded reports so I would say it has been an essential part of our system."

"Using Crystal Reports means all this manual work is eliminated."

"The ROI depends on your use, and in the first implementation, it was very productive with sales increases and time reduction."

"We use SAP Crystal Reports for operational reporting."

"I find Crystal Reports very easy to use, even for a non-technical person."

"It is easy to get quick results, but also allows you to create more in-depth reports."

More SAP Crystal Reports pros

Cons

"We are not happy with the poor graphic user interface. It looks a bit old and sometimes it is not properly user friendly."

"As all software and especially the open-source ones have always something that can work better, in this case, SpagoBI is slightly difficult to implement."

"I faced difficulties when using the email feature and documentation was scant."

"The dashboard components could be better. They could do a lot more."

"Yes, using Mobile and Desktop Editions, we would sometimes need to restart the service."

"The support is very meager: We had to break our heads to figure out everything"

"It would be better if more resources were available to help us learn how to use it. I wanted to use Knowage for a more extended period, but learning materials around the product were not really available and were not really straightforward. I've also seen inconsistencies between versions. For example, under the tools, especially in the cockpit, the way you create reports is now different. You will also find some configurations within a particular state, like a line chart, which differs from version to version. I think consistency is an essential feature in a product, especially for business intelligence products."

"When it comes to Knowage, it's a bit heavy, it's time-consuming sometimes, it's not very fast, and definitely not as fast as other business intelligence tools in terms of getting graphical reports."

More Knowage cons

"This was a good platform when it first came out but right now, it has become a complicated behemoth."

"It needs better support for child reports."

"The financing part needs improvement."

"It crashes the designer when the tool with no clear error messages."

"SAP Crystal Reports should provide better support for dynamic connectors."

"I had an issue where if I had the main application in one Window and a fly out menu on another monitor, it would crash."

"Customer service is terrible, if it wasn’t for the Google community there would not be any support at all."

"Charting capabilities are incomplete relative to competitors."

More SAP Crystal Reports cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Knowage is open-source, and an enterprise edition is also available."

"It allows the implementation of an effective reporting system using internal skills at a limited upfront cost."

"We pay fifteen hundred dollars as licensing fee."

"This product costs a lot of money."

"The cost of licensing can be a significant factor to consider when upgrading or transitioning to a new version of SAP Crystal Reports. It's important to evaluate the benefits and features offered by the new version against the associated costs to ensure it aligns with your organization's needs and budget."

"I feel that SAP Crystal Reports is a reasonably priced product."

"SAP Crystal Reports is a very expensive solution."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

19%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

15%

Outsourcing Company

12%

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	18
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	22

Questions from the Community

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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...

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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 ...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Crystal Reports?

I am aware that the pricing of SAP Crystal Reports gradually changes. When I bought it last time, I don't remember the exact price, and I need to check the current price on the portal. SAP Crystal ...

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Compared 5% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Knowage

October 2026

Download Knowage product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP Crystals

October 2026

Download SAP Crystal Reports product report

Also Known As

SpagoBI

No data available

Overview

Knowage is an open-source business intelligence suite offering features like engine concepts and report customization. It's favored for its integration capabilities and self-service BI functionality, allowing users to leverage cross-platform access and conduct comprehensive data analysis.

Knowage stands out in the BI landscape by providing tools that facilitate autonomous data exploration, with an emphasis on flexibility and extensive integration options. With capabilities for embedding reports and dynamic dashboards, it supports various analysis needs through integration with databases and tools like Jasper and BIRT. Despite its technical complexity and interface limitations, Knowage's features such as GIS integration and big data visualization enhance operational efficiency and profitability analysis.

What are the key features of Knowage?

Powerful engines: Facilitate complex data processing with high efficiency.
Report customization: Tailor reports to meet specific business requirements.
Cross-platform access: Enable data accessibility across different devices.
Open-source: Leverage the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of open-source solutions.
Embedding capabilities: Integrate seamlessly with tools like Jasper for enhanced functionality.
Python support: Use Python for advanced data correlation and analyses.
GIS integration: Incorporate geographical data for enriched insights.

What benefits should you consider in reviews?

Increased efficiency: Streamlined report deployment and big data visualization.
Comprehensive analysis: Tools for evaluating activities and profitability.
Data export options: Support for exporting data in preferred formats simplifies reporting tasks.
Operational cost savings: Eliminates the need for third-party BI solutions.

In the healthcare and financial sectors, Knowage is used for deriving insights from health data warehouses and performing financial analyses. Companies use it to create dashboards and reports from MySQL databases, embedding them for wider distribution, and enabling effective resource evaluation and decision-making.

Knowage

SAP Crystal Reports provides flexible report generation with strong data connectivity, dynamic parameters, and customizable design features, facilitating interactive, insightful reporting. Users benefit from its comprehensive formula capabilities and seamless integration to create detailed reports.

SAP Crystal Reports stands out for its robust functionalities, including dynamic parameters and extensive formula capabilities, which offer flexibility in report customization. It connects efficiently to SQL, Excel, XML, and other formats, ensuring ease of data interaction. The tool's ability to handle sub-reports and customizable design options enhance its usability for diverse reporting needs. Clients appreciate the option to export in multiple formats and its seamless integration with business software. However, improvements in analytics, memory usage, finance features, and visualization are needed. There is a demand for advanced graphical options and a desktop version for editing references, better integration with Hadoop, and improved formula debugging. Enhancements in chart capabilities, report consistency across upgrades, and cross-tab interfaces are also anticipated. Efforts to support modern file formats, cloud platform integration, and a more intuitive interface akin to modern BI tools would be beneficial.

What are the key features of SAP Crystal Reports?

Dynamic Parameters: Offers flexibility in report customization:
Robust Data Connectivity: Connects to SQL, Excel, XML, and more:
Sub-report Handling: Facilitates complex, detailed reports:
Customizable Design Features: Enhances report personalization:
Extensive Formula Capabilities: Allows complex calculations and formatting:

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Ease of Report Creation: Streamlines the reporting process:
Precise Formatting: Ensures detailed, accurate presentation:
Seamless Business Integration: Integrates smoothly with existing systems:
Multiple Export Formats: Enhances flexibility for sharing and analyzing:

Industries utilize SAP Crystal Reports for designing layouts, templates, dashboards, and fixed reports. It is employed for financial and management reporting, including profit and loss and administrative purposes. Businesses opt for SAP Crystal Reports to integrate with other SAP applications, generating customer invoices, conducting business analysis, and facilitating data interaction and backend reporting through multiple report merging and customized dashboards.

SAP

Sample Customers

FIAT Group, Italian air navigation service provider, Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Telecom Italia, ASL Genovese, San Giovanni Battista University Hospital

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

Buyer's Guide

Knowage vs. SAP Crystals

September 2026

Free Report: Knowage vs. SAP Crystal Reports

Find out what your peers are saying about Knowage vs. SAP Crystal Reports and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

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