Amazon Quicksight vs Microsoft SSRS: What are the differences?

Introduction

This article discusses the key differences between Amazon Quicksight and Microsoft SSRS.

1. Data Sources:

Amazon Quicksight allows you to connect to a variety of data sources, including AWS services like Amazon Redshift and Amazon RDS, as well as third-party databases and file formats. On the other hand, Microsoft SSRS primarily connects to Microsoft SQL Server databases, although it also supports other data sources with additional configuration.

2. Deployment:

Amazon Quicksight is a fully managed cloud-based solution, allowing you to instantly set up and start using the service without worrying about infrastructure management. Microsoft SSRS, on the other hand, requires a dedicated server installation and configuration, making it more suitable for on-premises or hybrid deployment scenarios.

3. Collaboration and Sharing:

Amazon Quicksight provides easy sharing and collaboration capabilities, allowing users to share dashboards and reports with colleagues and stakeholders. It also supports embedding dashboards in other applications. Microsoft SSRS provides similar collaboration features, but they are primarily focused on sharing reports via web browser access or email distribution.

4. Data Preparation and Transformation:

Amazon Quicksight offers built-in data preparation capabilities, allowing you to clean, transform, and combine data from different sources within the service itself. Microsoft SSRS does not provide direct data preparation features, and requires you to perform data preparation tasks in other tools such as SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS).

5. Scalability and Performance:

Amazon Quicksight is designed to handle large amounts of data and scale to accommodate increasing user demands. It takes advantage of Amazon Web Services' infrastructure to provide high performance and scalability. Microsoft SSRS performance and scalability are dependent on the server infrastructure it is deployed on, and may require additional configuration and resources for optimal performance.

6. Pricing:

Amazon Quicksight offers a pay-per-session pricing model, where you only pay for the actual usage of the service. This can be cost-effective for organizations with infrequent or seasonal user access. Microsoft SSRS is included in SQL Server licensing, making it more suitable for organizations that already have SQL Server deployed and do not require additional licensing costs.

In Summary, Amazon Quicksight and Microsoft SSRS differ in terms of data sources, deployment models, collaboration capabilities, data preparation features, scalability and performance, and pricing models.