Explore all of the features offered by FlexReport, Visual Studio Reporting, Report Builder 3.0, and Crystal Reports. You can download the matrix in PDF.
End User Designer for Section Report
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| Designer available with installer | ✓ | Available with MS SQL Server | Separate Installer | Available with Crystal Reports Installer |
| Create blank report | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Through Database Expert Wizard |
| Add chart to blank report | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Add map to blank report | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Add CrossTab to blank report | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Interface style | Modern UI, Ribbon Interface | ✓ | Modern UI, Ribbon Interface | Traditional WinForms interface |
Visual Studio Templates
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| Reporting Application Available | ✓ | WinForms, WPF | ||
| Template applications that bind Report with Viewer | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Report (blank), Report Wizard available in "Add new item" | ✓ | ✓ |
Report Wizard
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| Report Wizard | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Table list | Any data source | Any data source | SQL Query for Access, SQL Server data source | ✓ |
| View list | Any data source | Any data source | SQL Query for Access | ✓ |
| Stored procedure list | Any data source | SQL Query for Access, SQL Server data source | ✓ | |
| Grouping set during Report Wizard binding | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Grouping set only for Table/Matrix | ✓ | ✓ |
Report Styles
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| Built-in Report Styles | 34 types | 6 types | 6 types | 12 types |
| Columnar | ✓ | |||
| Tabular | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Justified | ✓ | |||
| Labels | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Stepped | ✓ | |||
| Outline | ✓ | |||
| Aligned | ✓ | |||
| Standard | ✓ | |||
| Form Letters | ✓ | |||
| OLAP | ✓ |
Query Builder
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| Graphical Query Designer | Any datasource | SQL Server Relational Databases only | ||
| Text-based Query Designer | ✓ | Oracle, OLEDB, ODBC, TeraData | Any datasource |
Report Layout & Controls
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| Section-based design template | .FLXR | .RPT | ||
| Page-based design template | .RDL/.RDLC | .RDL/.RDLC | ||
| Multiple reports in a report | ✓ |
Data Binding
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| MS SQL Server | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Object Datasource | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| OLEDB | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| SQLite | ✓ | |||
| Stored Procedure | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| XML | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bind report to multiple tables | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Drag & drop bound fields to report | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services for MDX | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| DMX | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Microsoft Power Pivot and tabular models | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Microsoft Azure SQL Database | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Oracle | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| SAP NetWeaver BI | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Hyperion Essbase | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Microsoft SharePoint List | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Teradata | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| ODBC | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Access | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Excel | ✓ | |||
| ADO.NET | ✓ | |||
| Java Beans | ✓ | |||
| Salesforce | ✓ | |||
| OLAP | ✓ | |||
| SAP Table | ✓ | |||
| SAP BW | ✓ | |||
| Outlook | ✓ |
Design Preview
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| Preview Reports | Designer; not Visual Studio | Designer; not Visual Studio | Designer; not Visual Studio | |
| HTML preview | Designer Edition only | |||
| Edit reports in preview | Designer Edition only | |||
| Portrait/landscape control in preview | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Viewers
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| HTML | ✓ | WebViewer | ||
| MVC | ✓ | |||
| UWP | ✓ | |||
| Windows | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| WinForms | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| WPF | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Web | ✓ | ✓ |
Report Features
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| Adding Sort Expressions on Groups at report level | ✓ | |||
| Drillthrough | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Filtering | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Formatting controls - Done through tabs and groups of Ribbon | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Grouping | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hyperlinks | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Page Number | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| ReportEvents | ✓ | |||
| Runtime Date & time | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Sorting | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Summary Totals | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Built-in Special Fields | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Report Scheduling | ✓ | |||
| Adding Sort Expressions on Groups available on Data Regions | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Subreports | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Interactive Sorting at Runtime | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Parameters
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| AllowBlank Parameters | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Boolean | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| DateTime | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Float | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Hidden Parameters | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Integer | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Multivalue | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Nullable | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Passing parameters to reports | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| String | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Time | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Date | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Currency | ✓ | |||
| Number | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Internal Parameters | ✓ | |||
| Options to refresh report with change in Parameter values | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Formats
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| Boolean | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Currency | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Date | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| LongDate | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| LongTime | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Number | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Percentage | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Short Date | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Short Time | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Time | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Decimal | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Full Date/time long | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Full Date/time short | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| General | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| General Date/time long | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| General Date/time short | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Month day | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| RFC1123 pattern | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Round trip | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Scientific | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Year Month | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Charts
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| Total Chart Types | 70+ | 50+ | 50+ | 40 |
| 2D | 38 | ✓ | ✓ | 33 |
| 3D | 36 | ✓ | ✓ | 7 |
| Area | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bar | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Column | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cone | ✓ | |||
| Cylinder | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Doughnut | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Gantt | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Histogram | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Line | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pie | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Polar | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Pyramid | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Radar | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Scatter | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Stacked | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Step | ✓ | |||
| Stock | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bubble | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Candlestick | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Funnel | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Range | ✓ | ✓ |
Chart Wizards
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| Properties | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Bind data source | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Visual Effects | Advanced | ✓ | Basic | |
| Choose chart type | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Export
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| Total Formats | 14 | 3 | 7 | 10 |
| BMP | ✓ | |||
| Excel (.xls) | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Open XML Excel (.xlsx) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| GIF | ✓ | |||
| HTML | ✓ | |||
| JPEG | ✓ | |||
| ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| PNG | ✓ | |||
| RTF | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| TIFF | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Open XML Word (.docx) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Zip compressed files | ✓ | |||
| Crystal Reports | ✓ | |||
| XML | ✓ | |||
| CSV | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| MHTML | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Word (.doc) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Import
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| C1Report | ✓ | |||
| ADP Reports | ✓ | |||
| MDB Reports | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Crystal Reports | ✓ | ✓ |
Code Behind
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| Can create report in code behind | ✓ | ✓ |
Scripting & Expressions
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| VB Script Editor | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Syntax check available | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| C# Editor | ✓ |
Deployment Licensing
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| Internal business use for client application | No license required | ✓ | ✓ | No license required |
| Third-party servers | License required | |||
| Royalty-free development | ✓ | ✓ |
Sample Reports
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| Installed with setup | ✓ | ✓ | Not installed at setup; available separately | |
| Available for download | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Medical Report | ✓ | |||
| Inventory Management | ✓ | |||
| Balance Sheet | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Budget Report | ✓ | |||
| Hospital Bills | ✓ | |||
| SPC Process Control Chart | ✓ | |||
| Telephone bill for FlexReport | ✓ |
IntelliSense
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| Report Fields | ✓ | |||
| Database Fields | ✓ | |||
| Calculated Fields | ✓ | |||
| Parameters | ✓ | |||
| VB Script Functions | ✓ | |||
| Aggregates | ✓ | |||
| Associated Properties | ✓ | |||
| Property description | ✓ | |||
| Report Design | ||||
| Add/insert resize actions for report sections | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Can grow, Grow and Shrink, Can shrink, Keep Together available to control layout of text | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Caption settings like All, Section, Hairline, Hidden | ✓ | |||
| Expand/Collapse buttons for sections/subsections | ✓ | |||
| Group header/footer | ✓ | |||
| Reorder | ✓ | |||
| Resize actions for report sections available | ✓ | |||
| Snap to grid | ✓ | |||
| Subsections | ✓ |
Server Edition
| Features | FlexReport | Visual Studio Reporting Control | Report Builder 3.0 | Crystal Reports |
| SAP Crystal Reports Server | Jul-16 | ✓ | ||
| SAP Business Objects Enterprise | ✓ |