Open-source reporting tools evoke cautious discussions. You’re never sure if you’re for or against them. Are they on par with proprietary software in addressing large enterprises’ business needs?

Among reporting software, open-source solutions garner much interest — they’re cost-effective and customizable. But what about licensing? Which open-source license should you opt for? What are the best practices for adopting open-code software? Read more on this ahead.

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Article Roadmap

• The Best Open-source Reporting Tools
  • JasperReports
  • Crystal Reports
  • MicroStrategy
  • Microsoft SQL Server
  • BIRT Report Designer
• Pros and Cons
• Best Practices
• Which Open-source License Should I Use?
• Next Steps

By offering open-source platforms at no/low cost, vendors hope you’ll opt for the paid version later.

Best Open-source Reporting Tools

Here’s a list of the top five open-source reporting software. An intuitive report designer, automation and excellent data connectivity are handy reporting features. Others include mobile insights, collaboration and reusable templates.

JasperReports

It’s a reporting tool with open source code, providing full data coverage from many sources. Its Report Designer includes the JasperReports Library and JasperSoft Studio.

The JasperReports Server can write into PDFs, XML and CSV files, screens and printers. Besides direct source connectivity, a centralized database stores analytics views, dashboards and reports.

JasperAssistant is a visual report designer for JasperReports. Source

Top Benefits

• Refine Strategy: Decide and plan by analyzing on-premise, web and cloud data. Uncover patterns and trends from easy-to-read reports and dashboards.
• Get Quick Insight: Generate reports with a fast reporting engine and various connectors.
• Create Pixel-perfect Reports: Present clear and concise insights using text, charts and graphs. Produce print-ready documents and view, print or export them in any format.
• Gain Insights Anywhere: Access metrics on the go with a native mobile app. The vendor provides a software development kit to embed the solution.
• Collaborate: Reduce turnaround time by working with other teams and departments on reports. Keep everyone in the loop by exporting reports in standard industry formats.

Primary Features

• Big Data Connectivity: Query Cassandra, MongoDB, Hadoop and NoSQL sources through connectors.
• JasperReports Library: It’s a Java-based interface for the platform’s reporting engine. Use the reporting engine as a standalone or embed it within business systems.
• Interactive Visualizations: Convey visual information, embellishing it with dynamic text fields in reports. Customize views by sorting, filtering and formatting columns and reuse them later.
• Automation: Share reports once or set up recurring distribution tasks via email. Allow end users to explore data by embedding interactive reports into web applications.

Limitations

• Doesn’t have a short learning curve.
• Doesn’t allow intuitive report building.

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Crystal Reports

An SAP offering, Crystal Reports updates databases, moves files and sends personalized reports. Delivering reports on schedule minimizes repetitive database queries, reducing the workload. Versioning is available — the SAP Crystal Server retains all scheduled reports.

Add objects to the report canvas by dragging them from the sidebar. Source

Top Benefits

• Design Web Reports: Deliver reports at speed, and show webpages on demand. Its multithreaded reporting engine improves response times by running tasks in parallel.
• Integrate With SAP Products: Create and distribute reports to online systems. Integrate with SAP BusinessObjects, JD Edwards (JDE) System, Oracle e-Business Suite, PeopleSoft (PSFT) and Siebel.
• Get the SAP Advantage: Take advantage of security, scheduling, versioning and scalability. The platform provides third-party authentication with SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence services.
• Share Reports: View and publish Microsoft Word and Excel reports and share them via email. You can view, share and update reports in your browser with advanced web reporting.

Primary Features

• Report Wizard: Use other reports as templates or build custom reports from scratch. Choose any template — standard, crosstab, mailing label or OLAP (Online Analytical Processing).
• View Insights: Access desired results by creating advanced filters with the Select Expert.
• Source Selection: Choose the sources and specific fields to import. Link Excel spreadsheets, Oracle databases and local file systems using the Database Expert.
• SAP Tools: Build reports using a handy toolbar. Save them to the SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW).
• Reporting Engine: Keep working on priority tasks with jobs running in the background. The reporting engine is fast, minimizing the number of passes made through the data.

Limitations

• Doesn’t have enough documentation.
• Doesn’t have a short learning curve.
• Doesn’t allow quick connection setup.
• Doesn’t provide fast data access for large volumes.

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MicroStrategy

This robust reporting tool with open source code provides automation and predictive modeling. You can view and share reports on demand or per schedule. Keep your BI solution and design reports with Tableau, Qlik Sense and Power BI.

A view of the MicroStrategy Desktop. Source

Top Benefits

• Get Analysis-ready Data: Transform and map datasets to a standard format. Save time with guided analysis — build reports faster with machine-driven searches and recommendations.
• Collaborate: Share reports with others. Highlight trends, comment on visualizations and tag colleagues in discussion threads. Reveal only the information that matters.
• Include Big Data: Deliver live buyer insights to shop floor staff. Capture their browsing patterns with GPS-driven image recognition modules.
• Secure Data: Keep sensitive information private with permissions, object-level security and authentication protocols.
• Get Mobile Insights: Gain live updates on laptops and phones via a mobile app. Edit information when offline — the system updates transactions when you come online.

Primary Features

• Zero-click Insights: Learn about terms and phrases by hovering over them. MicroStrategy’s Chrome extension, HyperIntelligence, delivers in-browser insights.
• Predictive Analytics: Forecast trends by identifying patterns in statistical models. You can import predictive models from external applications using PMML.
• Custom Tags: Invoke the platform’s functionality without writing code. Use custom tags for JSP and ASP.NET files.
• HyperVoice: Get instant answers to spoken questions. The platform connects to Alexa and Google Home.

Limitations

• Doesn’t support scheduled queries, background processing, batch updates and edge analytics.
• Doesn’t support key driver analysis.
• Doesn’t support augmented data prep, automated predictions and algorithm selection.
• Doesn’t support model tuning and anomaly alerting.

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Microsoft SQL Server

It’s part of the Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform that adds BI and forecasting to your business. SQL Server 2022 offers connections to Azure Synapse Link and Microsoft Purview.

You can install the software on Windows, Linux and Kubernetes clusters. A blockchain ledger maintains a tamper-proof record of all database changes.

A paginated report with sparklines, pie chart and geographical map. Source

Top Benefits

• Improve Decision-making: Make better decisions by designing and consuming easy-to-interpret reports. SQL Server breaks down information siloes by combining all data types.
• Customize: Choose your language and platform with the software’s open-source architecture.
• Scale: Scale up or down as your organization grows with a unified SQL platform and Azure cloud.
• Boost Availability: SQL Server provides quick recovery, increased uptime and failover mechanisms.
• Protect Proprietary Data: SQL Server offers cutting-edge security and compliance protocols. These include data encryption, role-based access, fraud monitoring and activity alerts.

Primary Features

• Connector Library: SQL Server provides business visibility by combining data from any source.
• Report Builder: Create paginated reports — specify the data, where to get it and how to display it. Preview the reports publishing to the Power BI Service.
• App Building: Create custom apps that integrate with the Microsoft product suite.
• In-memory Database: Get instant query responses. The platform stores in-demand results in RAM (random access memory).
• Column-based Storage: Get better performance and speed with columnar storage. It makes retrieval and referencing easier.

Limitations

• Doesn’t allow passing parameters into SQL views, which are static snapshots.

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BIRT Report Designer

BIRT is an open-source software project within the Eclipse Foundation. You can add reporting to your tech stack using its extensible tools and frameworks. BIRT uses data from JDO datastores, SQL databases and web services.

A visual designer and a runtime component support report building and execution. You can display charts in Eclipse plug-ins, Rich Client Platforms and Java platforms.

An ordered items report by product code in BIRT. Source

Top Benefits

• Customize: Change the open code to embed reports into business systems. Localize reports, displaying them in your language.
• Create Reports: Learn about prevailing trends with market intelligence. Embed reports within business systems and websites or email them directly to clients.
• Save Time: Reuse report components, scripts, queries, connections, images, styles and templates. Propagate the changes in respective elements across reports where they’re in use.
• Localize: Translate BIRT offerings into local languages, and display date-time patterns by region. Replace labels, table headers and chart titles in reports with localized text.

Primary Features

• Chart Wizard: Build charts, preview visualizations and configure user actions for chart elements.
• Cross Tabs: Design data cubes from pre-defined queries. Specify the rows, columns and hierarchies and add totals. Format cross tab elements as needed.
• Styles: BIRT supports CSS and its import, giving your web app developers an at-home feel. Define a style in one place and watch it change across elements and reports.
• Choose How You Access Data: Call a runtime component or build a custom query to draw data.

Limitations

• Doesn’t have an open-source report server.
• Isn’t easy to install.
• Doesn’t have as many pre-configured data source types as other platforms.

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Pros and Cons

Buggy code, legal issues and lack of support can hinder open-source software adoption.

• Upkeep Cost: Initial costs may be lower, but maintaining open-source software 24*7 is on you. You might need in-house expertise to solve pressing issues, which comes at a price.
• Limited Features: Open-source solutions offer very few integrations out of the box. Advanced attributes will likely cost extra.
• Slow Adoption: Open-code systems focus on functionality, so user-friendliness takes a back seat. Getting your team onboard with an unintuitive software solution can be tricky. Projects might stall, and training will cost you time and money.
• Lack of Support: Dedicated support is often unavailable for troubleshooting and general issues.
• Legal Issues: Open-source licenses are very specific about what’s permitted and what’s not. There are very strict copyright and patent rules and ignoring these can open you up to legal action.
• Lack of Stability: Open-source software isn’t tested as well as proprietary systems. It can be unstable and prone to hacking.
• Infrequent Updates: There’s no fixed timeline for upgrades and fixes. It can impact performance and security.

Best Practices

Here’s what’s good about open-source software and some associated best practices.

• Pay Less: Open-source licenses are affordable and sometimes free. Need enhancements? Customizing in-house can save you a tidy sum. Even if you decide to pay for extra features and support, it’ll cost you less than a paid version.
• Customize: The main draw of reporting tools that are open source is their flexible code. But, review the licensing terms carefully before using open-source programs and ensure compliance.
• Leverage Community Support: Bug fixing is quicker and updates are regular. Look for software with a large, active developer community.
• Check for Stability: Opt for a tool that’s tried and tested for stability. A large user base might be a good indicator but do your due diligence.
• Track Updates: Keep track of the latest updates and apply them as soon as possible. It keeps you in sync with community discussions.
• Manage Risk: Assess if it’s workable to adopt open-source software with security protocols.

Which Open-source Software License Should I Use?

Licenses can be restrictive or permissive, depending on the level of freedom they grant users and contributors to the open source code.

A restrictive, or copyleft license, says you must distribute any new products under the same license. Also, the new product’s source code must be public so that any modifications are available to all.

The GNU General Public License (GPL) is an example.

Permissive licenses allow anyone to use, modify and redistribute the software. It’s not mandatory to release new products under the same license. Examples include the MIT, BSD and Apache licenses.

Ask these questions before deciding on a license.

• What are the licensor’s expectations about the software and any changes you might make to it?
• What’s their approach to patent licensing and litigation?
• Which legal jurisdiction governs the license?

Ensure the license you opt for has the approval of the Open Source Initiative (OSI). Ask a legal counsel to review the license terms before deciding.

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Next Steps

Need help making a decision? Our free comparison report evaluates the leading open-source reporting tools. Learn more about software selection with our nine-step Lean Selection Methodology.

Which issues are you looking to solve with open-source software? Which features would your ideal product have? Let us know in the comments.