Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services vs Windward Core comparison

Microsoft and Windward Studios are both solutions in the Reporting category. Microsoft is ranked #6 with an average rating of 7.6, while Windward Studios is ranked #25. Microsoft holds a 3.5% mindshare in RT, compared to Windward Studios’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 84% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Windward Studios users who would recommend it.

Microsoft SQL Server Report...

Read 20 Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services reviews

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1,843 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

Windward Core

Read 36 Windward Core reviews

501 Views
160 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft SQL Server Report...

Windward Core

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

Windward Core and Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services are competing products in the reporting domain. Windward Core's flexibility in template design gives it an edge, while Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services stands out for seamless integration and scalability within Microsoft's ecosystem.

Features: Windward Core supports dynamic document generation, versatile template creation, and robust customization. It seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Word and Excel for template design, offers a user-friendly interface through AutoTag, and reduces the need for coding with Javelin Server RESTful API. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services provides enterprise-grade analytics, strong integration with SQL Server, and offers features like drill-down data, graphs, and charts that enhance reporting capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Windward Core could enhance its analytics capabilities and integration into broad IT infrastructures for larger enterprises. Furthermore, expanding support for non-Microsoft environments and increasing scalability options would be beneficial. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services faces challenges with complex initial setups, requiring technical expertise. Simplifying its interface for non-SQL users and offering more out-of-the-box templates could improve user accessibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Windward Core is praised for its straightforward deployment and accessible support, utilizing a flexible architecture that simplifies setup. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services benefits from its integration with Microsoft's ecosystem, although initial setups can be complex, requiring technical expertise. Overall, Windward Core is noted for its quicker deployment, while Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is favored for integrated solutions.

Pricing and ROI: Windward Core offers attractive initial pricing with rapid ROI due to flexible template capabilities and streamlined deployment. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services may incur higher initial costs but justifies this with deep integration and scalability, making it a preferred option for businesses heavily using Microsoft technologies. Windward Core presents a lower financial barrier, while Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services delivers a worthwhile investment for comprehensive integration.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services vs. Windward Core Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft SQL Servering Services vs. Windward Core

March 2025

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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

Microsoft SQL Server Report...

Ranking in Reporting

6th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Windward Core

Ranking in Reporting

25th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Document Generation Tools (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Reporting category, the mindshare of Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is 3.5%, down from 4.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Windward Core is 0.5%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Reporting

Featured Reviews

Gnanavel-Chakkarapani

Junior Consultant at CMA CGM

Offers useful templates but needs to improve the connectivity offered

In Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, not much of the interface part is used. With Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, its users face issues with the interface after they use Excel or create Microsoft SSIS Packages. The tool's interface is an area of concern requiring improvement. There needs to be an improvement in the product's connectivity so that the tool can connect easily with other third-party databases. In the dashboard, drag and drop functionality needs to improve, especially when compared to other tools like IBM Cognos Analytics and Qlik Sense. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is useful only for standard reports. In IBM Cognos Analytics, query studio can be used by users to drag the data and simply download the reports, so the user doesn't need to have any technical knowledge like developers. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is to be improved to offer features like query Studio, which is provided in IBM Cognos Analytics.

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Hit Mistry

Vice President at PSC Group, LLC

It has streamlined a lot of our reporting processes

Their PDF needs improvement. We've run into some issues when we tried to generate a Word document. If we try to generate the same document in PDF, sometimes it doesn't look exactly the same. We have gone back to Windward support a couple of times on a few issues, e.g., we had some issues with reports that had barcodes on them. The barcode wasn't displaying properly. It was displaying as a skewed image as opposed to an actual barcode. Therefore, we worked with Windward support, having some daily calls with them. Then, within the next release, they were able to resolve the issue. They even gave us a pre-release, so we could implement it into our code before the actual official release on the website. It would be nice to have some sort of workflow capability within the product. Anytime you generate a document, nine out of ten times there is something which precedes that document, whether it's entering parameters in, e.g., if I'm requesting the status report for a project. The first thing that I usually want from a status perspective is which project is the status report for and which week is it for, as those are some of the things that I have to supply before I can generate a document. From a workflow perspective, it would be nice to say, "This project belongs to this person, and this person is okay with me pulling information out of this document for whatever need I have." From a workflow perspective, I would like a wizard interface that goes step-by-step, like a questionnaire, where there are a bunch of things that you have to answer, "Yes or no," before it knows what to do or how to produce the document. Right now, we write our own custom UI for this.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The SQL Server Reporting Services makes it very easy to get the data whenever we need it."

"The solution's features are all just wrapped up in one nice easy package. I don't need a lot of toolsets to get everything I need done."

"The tool's valuable features are its drill-down feature, graphs, and charts."

"It is scalable."

"Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) is reliable for management dashboard and reporting purposes. It is helpful for user reporting and administrative tasks, such as monitoring progress. It is easy to use since it is lightweight and integrates well with the SQL Server database, making reporting straightforward. The visualization capabilities enhance our reporting needs with good pagination and KPI features. It integrates well with data servers and workbooks, allowing us to publish reports on mobile applications and tablets easily. Integrating other tools and platforms in our tech ecosystem is generally straightforward. However, if we need to perform something very specialized, we might have to use third-party tools rather than inbuilt options."

"We get good support from Microsoft."

"The initial setup is easy."

"The stability of SSRS has been reliable, with minimal issues encountered during our usage."

More Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services pros

"One of the features that we have found most important is that the report builder is in Word, so it was very easy to get into it... We could also use some of our existing Word templates."

"The most valuable feature is that it provides good, dynamic document-generation performance and the documents are being generated reliably."

"For the designer we use AutoTag which is a Microsoft Word plugin. In general, it's easy to use, it doesn't have a very steep learning curve. It's not difficult, for people who know Microsoft Office well, to start using the AutoTag tool... It feels just like you're in a Microsoft Office environment with some extra functionality."

"The design tool, with all of its features and sample output fidelity tests, and being able to work with JSON data and output PDF and HTML, were also both crucial."

"Creating dynamic table of contents (TOC) based on dynamic data in different reports."

"The most valuable features are the ability for it to be integrated into our software solution and the AutoTag tool that allows us to quite quickly create and update the templates themselves."

"The ultimate feature is the product it produces. The ROI around that saves hours and hours. It's probably about a hundred days per year. The time savings and the ability to turn it around quickly pleases our customers."

"The Windward solution was very fast to rollout, and it is proven."

More Windward Core pros

Cons

"Technical support is in minor need of improvement so that they can solve problems in a more timely manner."

"Tableau is more user-friendly because it doesn't need to do any extra programming. It has drag-and-drop functionality."

"It would be really nice to have better integration between the solution and Power BI."

"Sometimes, we need to make sure that the configuration stays consistent across the reporting instances. They all connect to the same database. So, it shares that same backend, but the reporting services itself can also be configured. On the application level, for reporting level. And it is, based on my own experience, it is a manual effort to make sure that the reporting servers are configured the same across the environment."

"The product could be improved by reducing the time it takes to build and deploy reports."

"The complex tuning for report performance is complicated. There is a lack of native support for source code control. We often need to use separate tools like VS Code or other software to manage version control and changes in the database. It would be beneficial if source code management were integrated directly into SSRS, thus eliminating the need to rely on external tools. While CLI-based operations are exemplary, the trend is towards GUI for a better user experience. Integrating both visualization and source code management within SSRS would simplify the process for users."

"There are occasions during maintenance runs when the Check Point monitoring system reports a lot of blocked sessions."

"We encounter some barriers while trying to build a report."

More Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services cons

"It needs better support for upgrades and more control over layout of elements. Upgrades tend to break existing output. Elements do not position where expected due to insertion of blank lines and page breaks. It takes time to fix these through trial and error."

"Their PDF needs improvement. We've run into some issues when we tried to generate a Word document. If we try to generate the same document in PDF, sometimes it doesn't look exactly the same."

"A lot of clients who want to use this don't have the technical background for the SQL portion of gathering the data. If Windward were to make a more user-friendly SQL extract front-end, that would help a lot of clients to leverage the application a lot more."

"They're not a gigantic company, so they just don't have all the capital to do whatever they would want to do. That's the only reason I would hold back even that one point. I know that if I do ask for something, I'll get it. I just know that it will take some time."

"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."

"I have to deal with VERY long lists of properties contained in our XMLs and it would be nice if Windward offered a way to alphabetize this property list."

"One thing that frustrated us a little bit is that we have to use the Office PDF generation, because the native PDF generation is always slightly different compared to the one in Office. The formatting is just a little bit off here and there... This means that we need to have Office installed on the server to be able to generate these documents via API."

"The reason it took us so long to get the system up and running is that the APIs could be improved a bit. It could be a little bit more interoperable with software, without having to do a lot of the heavy lifting that we had do to get it in."

More Windward Core cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is cheaper than its alternatives."

"The product pricing is reasonable in terms of suitable features for business."

"The pricing is high."

"The tool's licensing costs are expensive."

"The solution is expensive."

"The price is pretty good."

"Value-wise, the solution's pricing is good for the price that we pay."

"The solution is free to use for developers."

"The pricing is fair. The way that they have it priced is the Windward Designer has a price that's associated with it. Then, depending on the number of cores that you're looking for, that is the price that you pay. The more cores that you want, the more expensive it is."

"The cost is reasonable."

"Windward is very expensive when the volume of documents being generated is low and it is cheap when the volume is high."

"They are fair and flexible. They are willing to work with your current architecture to make sure you have the best deal."

"The only problem with the pricing of Windward is the limitation on the number of reports generated. It is costly in that sense. If you want to increase, you have to pay more, based on the number of reports generated per day. It is not the same with Crystal Reports. With the latter, you buy a license at one point in time and that's it."

"I can't advise anybody about pricing and licensing, but it was competitive. A lot of things we did look at were all volume-based, so it was a case of you buy a license to generate this many reports a year, and that's not something that I'm particularly interested in because it doesn't give you any idea - if we have future growth, or if we have a lean year - for budgeting reasons it's more difficult. With Windward it's a straight out license fee, whether we generate one page or we generate a million, it makes no difference."

"It is absolutely worth the value. They have flexibility, depending on what you're looking for from a buying standpoint. The current pricing models are quite flexible, with the ability to use it on an as-needed basis, or to get a perpetual license that covers a customer that might have extensive needs. I think it's pretty good."

"Pricing is something I complain about. Production pricing is okay, but for a testing environment the pricing looks a bit high to me."

More Windward Core pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Government

12%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

13%

Healthcare Company

Recreational Facilities/Services Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services?

I mainly use the solution for the ease of reporting and for executive dashboards.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services?

I don't recall the current pricing as it changes frequently.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services?

They could improve the scalability and stability of SQL Server Reporting Services. I haven't used it recently, so I can't provide detailed suggestions on improvements.

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Comparisons

TIBCO Jaspersoft vs Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services

Compared 21% of the time

Tableau vs Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services

Compared 17% of the time

IBM Cognos vs Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services

Compared 13% of the time

Oracle OBIEE vs Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services

Compared 12% of the time

SAP Crystal Reports vs Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services

Compared 9% of the time

More Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services Competitors

SAP Crystal Reports vs Windward Core

Compared 56% of the time

Docmosis vs Windward Core

Compared 44% of the time

More Windward Core Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft SQL Servering Services

March 2025

Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services report

Download Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services product report

Buyer's Guide

Windward Core

March 2025

Download Windward Core product report

Also Known As

SQL Server Reporting Services, Microsoft SSRS, SSRS, MS SQL Server Reporting Services

Windward, Windward Studios

Overview

At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Our mission is grounded in both the world in which we live and the future we strive to create. Today, we live in a mobile-first, cloud-first world, and the transformation we are driving across our businesses is designed to enable Microsoft and our customers to thrive in this world.

We do business in 170 countries and are made up of 114,000 passionate employees dedicated to fulfilling our mission of helping you and your organization achieve more.

Microsoft

What is Windward Studios?

For over a decade, Windward has been a leader in the software development industry by creating the most innovative and advanced document automation and reporting software on the planet.

Data-Driven Document Automation

Generate stunning documents that incorporate relevant data easily and seamlessly.

Visually Striking Designs

Our software provides innovative tools and features to build beautiful designs and stunning layouts, all within the familiar Microsoft Office Suite. Your imagination is the only limitation.

Agile Document Logic

We offer the best document automation software for the new millennium. With our conditional logic functionality, you can swiftly personalize the document content to gratify your end users.

Huge Time Saver

Looking for faster template creation that enables you to keep pace with your business? With our software, template creation takes minutes and you do not need any programming experience to get it done.

Exceptionally Intuitive Interface

Our program's design offers documents that can be edited, customized and designed using MS Office. Enjoy a stress-free document automation experience in programs you already know.

Efficient Savings

Significantly reduce the resources and time required for template development by using our streamlined template design and document automation tools.

Windward Studios

Sample Customers

CMS Wire, The New York Times

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

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft SQL Servering Services vs. Windward Core

March 2025

Free Report: Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services vs. Windward Core

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services vs. Windward Core and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.

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