Top 15 Differences Between SSRS vs Power BI

Why Microsoft created Power BI when it already has SSRS?  What is the difference between the two? What are their significant features? You might have this set of questions in your mind when you think of Microsoft SSRS vs Power BI. So this blog will help you clear all your dilemmas.

Topics covered in the blog:

• What is Power BI?
• What is SSRS?
• Difference between SSRS vs Power BI
• Why Power BI better than SSRS?
• Conclusion

Before moving specifically to compare the two, let’s have a deep dive into Power BI and SSRS.

What is Power BI?

Power BI is a Business Intelligence and Data Visualization tool that help transform raw data from various data sources into meaningful and valuable insights. These insights can be in different forms like graphs, charts, dashboards, and reports. In addition, Power BI offers cloud-based services that help to analyse the data and create interactive visualisations.

Note: Learn how to create reports in Power BI.

What is SSRS?

SQL Server Reporting Services is a server-based reporting platform. It contains a programming and coding interface to build, test and deploy the report. They are mainly used for generating, sharing, and viewing reports. It demands manual assistance due to its programming foundation. It is also associated with Visual Studio and SQL Formatting. To gain in-depth detail of SSRS, click here.

The various reports generated in SSRS are cached, linked reports, parameterised, ad-hoc, snapshot, click-through, and drill-down & drill-through reports.

Read More: About Power Bi Data Analysis. Click here

Difference between SSRS and Power BI

Now comes the most awaited part where we compare both these Microsoft tools – SSRS vs Power BI.

SSRS is old technology for generating and publishing reports based on the programming and coding interface. In contrast, Power BI is more friendly, advance, easy to use and has more graphical and visualisation tools.

As we had an overview of both, it will become easy to understand the comparison based on the following criteria. So here are the top 15 difference between SSRS vs Power BI.

Criteria Basis	SSRS	Power BI
Full-Form	SQL Server Reporting Services	Power Business Intelligence
Description	It provides services to create, manage, deploy the reports	It is an analytical and business intelligence tool used for data transforming, modelling and visualising
History	It was launched in the year 2004	Power BI is a newcomer that came in the year 2017
License	Subscription is required to use SSRS. Hence it is a paid tool	It has a free version available for Power BI Desktop, but the premium and pro version requires a subscription.
Component	It is a SQL Server Data Tool (SSDT)	It is an open-source HTML5 and cloud-enabled Software as a Service (SaaS) solution
Accessibility	SSRS is accessible through the web and desktop	It is accessible through the web (Power BI service),  desktop (Power BI Desktop), and Mobile App as well
Size limit	There is no such limit on the size of data in SSRS	If you are using a free version of Power BI, you have a data limit of 1 GB
Applications	It generates only server-based reports.	It can generate both server-based and cloud-based reports
Data Sources	It extracts data from SQL Server Analysis Services, SQL Data Warehouse and SQL Server.	The most significant benefit of Power BI is that it can extract data from almost anywhere.
Data Dependency	SSRS works on structured as well as semi-structured data	Power BI works on both structured and unstructured data.
Usage / Usability	Drill-down capacity is great in SSRS	Easy to use and enriched with outstanding graphical capabilities
Software Update	Microsoft updates SSRS every few years	Power BI updates come every month with new features and services hence also increasing its usability.
User friendly	Due to the Programming and Coding interface, it is restricted to developers, making it less user-friendly	Power BI has a simple interface, and working on it is a relatively quick and easy process due to the drag-and-drop
Customer Base	As SSRS is server-based and requires a well-equipped developer to work on it, hence the customer base is not that strong	Due to its unique features and easy to use capabilities, it became the hot choice for many professionals
Implementation	The implementation process of SSRS is complex as it requires manual efforts and involves time-taking procedures	Power BI is AI-based, and hence implementation tasks become easy

Also Check: Our blog post on Power Bi Paginated Reports. Click here

Why Power BI is better than SSRS?

The reason for Power BI – being a hot choice for many professionals, be it a Data Engineers, Database Administrator, Data Analyst and Business Intelligence Professionals are due to its superior capabilities, which are listed below:

• It offers real-time updates of reports and dashboards backed up by Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, NLP, and Microsoft Digital Assistant, Cortana.
• Data for Power BI can be fetched from almost any sources like  Excel, SQL, CSV, Web files, Java APIs, etc.
• The SaaS solution provides built-in reports and dashboards.
• It provides Data Cleaning, data transmission, data modelling, and data visualisation capabilities, all under one umbrella.
• Power BI provides you with a secure connection (Row-level Security) both on-premises or in the cloud.
• It readily integrates with other tools like Dynamics 365, SharePoint, Office 365, Hadoop, SAP, MailChimp, Salesforce, Spark, etc.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading the article.

As we have done a thorough analysis, we know that SSRS is more inclined towards coding. So if you have a technical background and have a sound understanding of coding and programming, SSRS will work for you. But Power BI is easier to use due to its drag-and-drop and great visualisation tools. Power BI is technologically advanced and has more graphical capabilities than SSRS.

References

• Introduction to Microsoft Power BI Platform | Everything You Must Know
• Exam PL-300: Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst | A Replacement Of DA-100
• Microsoft Certified Data Analyst Associate [PL-300] Step By Step Activity Guides (Hands-On Labs)
• Case Study: Display Live Data Streaming Using Power BI Service
• Introduction to Data Modeling in Power BI
• What is Power Query | Microsoft Azure Power BI Tool

Next Steps to begin with PL-300 Certification:

In our PL-300 Certification Training Program, we’ll cover 10+ Hands-On Labs. If you wish to start your journey towards becoming a Microsoft Certified: Power BI Data Analyst Associate, try our FREE CLASS.