Top 5 SSRS Alternatives for Paginated Reporting in 2025
SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) has long been a trusted solution for delivering pixel-perfect, paginated reports in enterprise environments. However, as businesses embrace modernization, there’s a growing need for cloud-based deployment, seamless embedding capabilities, and intuitive design tools—all while maintaining RDL compatibility and high-quality print output. Let’s take a look at the top five SSRS alternatives in 2025 offering modern deployment, integration, and developer-friendly features.
Why consider SSRS alternatives?
SSRS is widely used for structured reporting, but it often lacks modern features like interactive dashboards and cloud integration. As business needs grow, its limited visualization options can become a challenge. Here are key reasons to consider SSRS alternatives.
White label reporting: If maintaining your brand identity is important, choose a platform that lets you personalize the interface with your own logos, colors, and web links.
Seamless data integrations: Ensure the platform can easily connect to data sources like SQL, Oracle, Excel, and websites. This helps save time and avoids the need to enter data manually.
Advanced data visualizations: Choose a platform that offers powerful visuals like interactive charts, graphs, and dashboards to help you easily understand and act on complex data.
Self-service reporting: A good platform should make it easy for anyone—even those without technical skills—to create and share reports, helping teams work faster without needing help from IT.
Deployment flexibility: Choose a platform that can be deployed either in the cloud or on your own servers, depending on what works best for your setup and data management policies.
Extensibility and APIs: Look for platforms that let you customize reports using tools like APIs and widgets. This makes it easier to adjust reports to fit your needs and automate repetitive tasks.
Collaborative reporting: Features like sharing, exporting, and scheduled delivery make it easier for teams to collaborate and stay informed with the most current insights.
Pixel-perfect reporting: Select a platform that gives you full control over how your reports look, so they appear polished, well-organized, and ready to print with every detail in place.
With a clear understanding of why to consider SSRS alternatives, let’s explore the top 5 SSRS alternatives for paginated reporting in 2025.
Top five SSRS alternatives for paginated reporting in 2025
SSRS delivers pixel-perfect, paginated reports. Whether you’re generating invoices, operational documents, or regulatory exports, these tools provide robust capabilities that align with SSRS’s strengths while supporting modern deployment models. Let’s explore these alternatives in detail:
1. Bold Reports
Bold Reports® is a powerful self-service and embedded reporting platform that simplifies the design, management, and delivery of pixel-perfect reports. It supports seamless SSRS migration and allows unlimited report creation for scalable reporting solutions. Here are some key highlights:
Built on ASP.NET Core: Bold Reports is developed using the ASP.NET Core framework, making it cross-platform and highly scalable. This allows developers to integrate it seamlessly into modern web applications and deploy it across different environments.
Supports SSRS RDL format: Bold Reports is fully compatible with RDL, which SSRS uses. This means you can import and use your existing SSRS reports in Bold Reports without recreating them from scratch.
Good for web-based : Bold Reports excels at delivering paginated reports through the web. It provides a responsive and interactive viewer that ensures reports are accessible and well-formatted across different screen sizes.
White-label reporting: Bold Reports lets you embed advanced reporting tools customized with your logo, colors, and brand identity.This helps deliver a branded experience for users and clients, enhancing professionalism and trust.
Data visualizations: Bold Reports lets you create interactive, visually rich reports that make it easier to analyze trends, track KPIs, and share results. With clear data visualization, you gain insights faster and communicate findings more effectively.
Robust security and authentication: Bold Reports ensures secure access to data with Microsoft 365, OAuth 2.0, Active Directory, and OpenID. It also protects sensitive data through encryption, role-based access control, and flexible deployment.
Pixel-perfect reporting: Bold Reports ensures pixel-perfect layouts for screen and print, helping users deliver clear, professional, and brand-consistent reports across formats.
Multitenant support: Bold Reports lets SaaS providers and enterprises manage multiple users from a single platform. With robust tenant isolation and centralized control, you can scale efficiently without compromising security or performance.
Flexible deployment: Bold Reports offers flexible deployment—cloud or on-premises—so you get secure, scalable reporting tailored to your business needs.
Power BI Paginated Reports
Power BI Paginated Reports uses the RDL format like SSRS does. The reports are created in Power BI Report Builder, a standalone desktop tool, and published to the Power BI service.
Here are some key features:
Uses RDL format like SSRS: This means it supports the same report file structure as SSRS, allowing users to reuse or migrate existing SSRS reports without modification.
Cloud-based through Power BI premium: Reports are hosted and managed in the cloud through Power BI Premium, enabling easy sharing, scalability, and access from anywhere.
Ideal for organizations already using Power BI: It integrates seamlessly with the Power BI ecosystem, making it a convenient choice for teams already using Power BI for dashboards and analytics.
Extends SSRS capabilities to the cloud: Power BI paginated reports bring the pixel-perfect reporting strengths of SSRS to the cloud, combining traditional reporting with modern cloud-based distribution and accessibility.
Stimulsoft Reports
Stimulsoft Reports is a flexible tool for building reports across platforms like .NET, JavaScript, PHP, and Java. It offers more customization and deployment options than SSRS, making it great for modern, cross-platform development.
Here are some key features:
Web, desktop, and mobile platform support: This flexibility allows users to design and view reports across different devices and operating systems, enhancing accessibility.
Designer tools: It provides a familiar report design experience for SSRS users, reducing the learning curve and speeding up adoption. Uses its own report definition format (not RDL) but delivers similar paginated, pixel-perfect layouts.
.NET integration for developers: Built with .NET compatibility, it integrates well into .NET applications, making it a strong fit for developers in Microsoft environments.
Export to multiple formats: Allows reports to be exported to PDF, Excel, Word, HTML, and other formats, supporting diverse business needs.
DevExpress Reporting
DevExpress Reporting is a .NET tool for creating paginated, print-ready reports with interactive features. It integrates with Visual Studio and supports embedding in web and desktop apps, making it a strong SSRS alternative.
Here are some key features:
Rich .NET integration: Deep integration with the .NET framework allows developers to build and customize reports directly within their applications.
Visual Studio support: Developers can design, preview, and manage reports within Visual Studio, streamlining the development workflow. DevExpress uses a proprietary layout engine rather than RDL but provides equivalent page-level precision and print control.
Suitable for embedded reporting in applications: Ideal for scenarios where reports need to be embedded into desktop or web apps, offering a seamless user experience.
Built-in report viewer controls: Offers ready-to-use viewer components for web and desktop platforms, simplifying report display and interaction.
Telerik Reporting
Telerik Reporting is a .NET tool for paginated reports built for web, desktop, and cloud apps. It includes a drag-and-drop designer, supports multiple data sources, and exports to formats like PDF and Excel, making it a dependable SSRS alternative.
Its main features include:
Web and desktop support: Built for .NET developers, it supports deployment in both web and desktop environments, offering flexibility in application design.
Strong design and export capabilities: Provides a wide range of styling options and export formats, like PDF, Excel, and Word, making it easy to deliver professional reports.
Good for developers needing SSRS-like control: Offers detailed control over report layout and behavior, similar to SSRS, which is useful for developers needing precision and customization. Telerik Reporting employs its own report definition format (not RDL) but supports the same paginated, print-ready structure.
Interactive report elements: Supports features like drill-down menus, parameters, and dynamic content, enhancing user engagement and report usability.
Choosing the best SSRS alternative for paginated reporting
Bold Reports® provides a powerful, modern solution for organizations transitioning from SSRS while maintaining RDL support. As a leading paginated-reporting alternative, it ensures a smooth migration with advanced embedding, enterprise-grade security, and intuitive design tools. Whether you’re upgrading or starting a fresh, it provides expert support, smooth onboarding, and transparent pricing. Explore the Bold Reports features page to learn more. Try Bold Reports for free or book a personalized demo to see how it can transform your reporting strategy.
