MicroStrategy Analytics vs. SAP Crystal

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
MicroStrategy Analytics
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
MicroStrategy Analytics is an enterprise business analytics and mobility platform. Key features include automatic big data analysis and reporting, data discovery and visualization, digital security credentials, and support for mobile devices.N/A
SAP Crystal
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
SAP Crystal is an analytics and reporting software solution for SMBs. SAP Crystal comprises Crystal Reports for pixel-perfect reporting, and SAP Crystal Server for automated distribution and self-service access to reports, dashboards and data exploration.
$295
per single user license
Pricing
MicroStrategy AnalyticsSAP Crystal
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Upgrade Version to SAP Crystal Reports 2020
$295
per single user license
SAP Crystal Reports 2020 64-Bit
$495
per single user license
SAP Crystal Reports 2016 32-Bit
$495
per single user license
SAP Crystal Server 2020 1 NUL
$869
per user license + first year maintenance to be added
SAP Crystal Server 2020 5 CAL
$8,744
5 concurrent users + first year maintenance to be added
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
MicroStrategy AnalyticsSAP Crystal
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional DetailsMust contact sales team for pricing information.* SAP Crystal Reports 2020 Viewer allows you to view static data within a SAP Crystal Reports file. * SAP Crystal Reports 2020 - Full version allows you to create powerful, richly formatted, and dynamic reports from virtually any data source, delivered in dozens of formats, in up to 28 languages. If you already have an older version of Crystal Reports, buy a license for SAP Crystal Reports 2020 - Upgrade at a discounted, upgrade price. * SAP Crystal Server 2020, 1 NUL includes 1 license of: SAP Crystal Reports 2020 - SAP Crystal Server 2020. * As an add-on to SAP Crystal Server 2020 1 NUL, SAP Crystal Server 2020 5 CAL allows you to support a wider, intermittent audience of end users, up to five logged on at the same time.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
MicroStrategy AnalyticsSAP Crystal
Considered Both Products
MicroStrategy Analytics

No answer on this topic

SAP Crystal
Chose SAP Crystal
SAP Crystal Reports contains all the reporting capabilities of the above peer technologies. There is not a single capability of the above tools which is not available in Crystal report. But Crystal being an offering SAP fares and performs best for SAP integrated source systems. …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
MicroStrategy AnalyticsSAP Crystal
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
MicroStrategy Analytics
10.0
26 Ratings
20% above category average
SAP Crystal
9.3
122 Ratings
13% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports10.023 Ratings8.0111 Ratings
Customizable dashboards10.023 Ratings10.097 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates10.024 Ratings10.0115 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
MicroStrategy Analytics
10.0
24 Ratings
21% above category average
SAP Crystal
9.6
134 Ratings
17% above category average
Drill-down analysis10.022 Ratings10.0115 Ratings
Formatting capabilities10.024 Ratings10.0133 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages10.016 Ratings8.663 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration10.023 Ratings10.0118 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
MicroStrategy Analytics
10.0
23 Ratings
18% above category average
SAP Crystal
9.4
134 Ratings
12% above category average
Publish to Web10.022 Ratings9.289 Ratings
Publish to PDF10.023 Ratings10.0131 Ratings
Report Versioning10.020 Ratings9.093 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling10.022 Ratings9.096 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers10.05 Ratings10.052 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
MicroStrategy Analytics
10.0
22 Ratings
22% above category average
SAP Crystal
8.0
88 Ratings
0% below category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)10.020 Ratings7.651 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization10.019 Ratings8.575 Ratings
Predictive Analytics10.018 Ratings7.841 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
MicroStrategy Analytics
10.0
21 Ratings
16% above category average
SAP Crystal
8.6
86 Ratings
1% above category average
Multi-User Support (named login)10.019 Ratings7.879 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model10.020 Ratings7.778 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)10.020 Ratings8.478 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control10.01 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)10.09 Ratings9.038 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
MicroStrategy Analytics
9.7
19 Ratings
20% above category average
SAP Crystal
8.4
62 Ratings
5% above category average
Responsive Design for Web Access10.019 Ratings8.760 Ratings
Mobile Application10.015 Ratings7.643 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile10.019 Ratings9.057 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
MicroStrategy Analytics
10.0
8 Ratings
24% above category average
SAP Crystal
7.0
43 Ratings
12% below category average
REST API10.06 Ratings7.48 Ratings
Javascript API10.07 Ratings6.035 Ratings
iFrames10.05 Ratings7.18 Ratings
Java API10.04 Ratings6.035 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)10.05 Ratings8.337 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)10.06 Ratings7.031 Ratings
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User Ratings
MicroStrategy AnalyticsSAP Crystal
Likelihood to Recommend
9.9
(47 ratings)
10.0
(156 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.9
(27 ratings)
10.0
(19 ratings)
Usability
3.2
(5 ratings)
9.4
(28 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(2 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(2 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
2.2
(5 ratings)
8.6
(21 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(4 ratings)
8.8
(14 ratings)
Configurability
9.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.0
(2 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
10.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
10.0
(1 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
MicroStrategy AnalyticsSAP Crystal
Likelihood to Recommend
MicroStrategy
MSTR is great for any organization that is looking for a way to deliver complicated data in an uncomplicated way. From business teams to marketing and finance, several departments benefit from using MSTR to keep track of KPIs enabling teams to make optimizations along the way. MSTR provides great visual representations of data enabling team members to distill thousands of data points into easily digestible charts and graphs
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SAP
Generation of templated reports is the strong suit of SAP Crystal. Allows users to change formats in templates bases on requirement with minimal effort. Automated report delivery requires the user to be aware of sql which cannot be expected from all users. Should support more document export formats and improve the UI for SAP B1 Users
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Pros
MicroStrategy
  • They sell the product well, and make promises you will actually believe
  • "checks the box" for most features a company would need. Doesn't actually deliver them though
  • They answer the phone in a timely manner. Can't answer your questions or provide support, but the queue time isn't bad
  • They have online documentation. It's not up to date, and likely doesn't reflect the version of software you are using, but hey... they can point to it.
Read full review
SAP
  • Crystal Reports allows us to create a consistent template for all of our reports.
  • Crystal Reports and Server allows us to house a repository for all of our reports to make them easy to find and update when necessary.
  • Crystal Reports can connect to a wide variety of data sources.
  • Crystal Reports can be a little daunting when first implementing. There are a lot of nuances in learning how to truly master this software and it can be frustrating at times.
Read full review
Cons
MicroStrategy
  • The graph options are not as robust as an Excel user might want.
  • The metadata layer can sometimes be slower, and it takes a long time for reports to run.
  • Viewing the data feed entered can be cumbersome at times, in terms of validation with reports.
Read full review
SAP
  • The export of reports to Excel is very cumbersome and the results are difficult to format.
  • The design of reports and the graphical features (e.g. charts) feel quite rigid.
  • The learning curve for a non-programmer is incredibly steep, making Crystal a specialty tool.
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Likelihood to Renew
MicroStrategy
I would always choose to renew MicroStrategy as long as they lead the market in features, functionality and price. The support of MicroStrategy is timely and professional, I frequently get answers to my questions within 24 hours and normally have solutions within 48 hours. Training available for MicroStrategy completely covers everything required to be able to expertly use MicroStrategy and understand data warehousing.
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SAP
We have been using this product for so many years and it has truly become a cornerstone to our business processes when it comes to developing and distributing information via reports. We currently have over 500 reports developed to date over about 30 systems and that will continue to grow as user needs change.
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Usability
MicroStrategy
The standard grid reporting could look more like the styling and object used for the Import and Visual Insight products. In addition, object properties almost seem to be hidden when first using the product. It's as if they are asking the engineers to only use the presets we make available...and, these presets are 10+ years old. On the positive side, Microstrategy seems to be the only product, not named Cognos, which can scale to Big Data. The product is "hackable" via the SDK or tricking the Intelligence Server to do uncommon things. The Microstrategy development team also seems to be very involved with their OEM partners; especially when it comes to features and enhancements. A large majority of the improvements we suggested have made it into the product or on the roadmap for future enhancements. Only suckas fall for the shiny objects from most other vendors; Microstrategy is really the only choice for Enterprise BI.
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SAP
Crystal is very robust, but not always easy to use. It create wonderful looking reports, and so deserves a high rating. However, I have to take a couple of points off for the simple fact that I cannot hand it to a user and expect them to be able to do development with it.
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Reliability and Availability
MicroStrategy
I've never had an issue with MicroStrategy not being available due to MicroStrategy application malfunction. It is very robust and only failures I've seen were due to user error or the platform the machine running the service failed some how.
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SAP
No answers on this topic
Performance
MicroStrategy
Being able to customize the performance based on the business need is extremely powerful. Proper configuration and understanding of the usage pattern is key, if the technical ability of the architect is not at top level, then the product will not be configured correctly which will lead to poor performance.
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SAP
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
MicroStrategy
Good user community. Support team is available if you are under AMC. You get decent support after raising the support ticket. If it is product bug they will inform you and let you know which patch will resolve the same.
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SAP
The support community can be difficult to navigate. I've also run into issues with my login. The SAP system has a bizarre mechanism for validating users that requires users to have what is called an S-ID. A basic ID may not give you access to all the features in the portal. The limitation may include not being able to perform a simple task like downloading patches and updates. This isn't a big deal for single user license but for teams it can be a pain.
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In-Person Training
MicroStrategy
No answers on this topic
SAP
Trainer was patient and thorough in going through the basics and willing to answer questions by email after the initial training
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Online Training
MicroStrategy
I have attended many trainings offered by MicroStrategy; both distance and in-person training. I earned my CRD (Certified Report Developer) certification via the online training. I found the training to be well organized and concise. Overall I will definitely continue to increase my knowledge with MicroStrategy via the online training offering.
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SAP
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
MicroStrategy
We measured following KPI for the success
  • Increase in Business Feeds Loads
  • Reduction in Controllers Manual Work.
  • Conversion of Manual Work into Systematic Workflows.
  • Increase in Customer Spend
  • Reduction in Service costs
  • Reduction in time-to-market for new campaigns
  • Increase in cross sell and Up sell
  • Error reduction in customer Identification
  • Existing client retained
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SAP
Just like any other implementation: When designing the differing reports, get end users' input, make sure to design the reports so that they display the information that the company requires, in the best and clearest way possible.
Test, test, test, revise when needed, and, particularly, do sufficient training so users are comfortable using Crystal Reports!
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Alternatives Considered
MicroStrategy
Tableau is probably MicroStrategy Analytic's biggest competitor I've noticed over time, and I'm not sure why. Tableau only covers visualizations independently for each business user, which then creates the issues of every employee creating their own version of the data, and then you have 20 versions of the truth. A enterprise data warehouse and MicroStrategy's Visual Insight is a better method.
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SAP
Crystal reports is useful in case we want to import data from data base . We can write queries in it but Google Charts require to be implemented in our application using code so crystal reports is better than Google Charts.
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Scalability
MicroStrategy
This software is extremely scaleable, one can add more core servers which performs as a load balancing. The configurations available to manage usage patterns and daily activity are as high a caliber as any other enterprise level software. This product can be installed on both a windows and unix platform allow for integration on a budget.
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SAP
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
MicroStrategy
  • MicroStrategy was helpful for reducing the amount of time we needed to spend number crunching large data sets, and in doing so, allowed me as the primary users to spend more time gleaning insights from the data that in turn informed our leadership team to make strategic decisions.
  • By creating numerous canned reports available to all members of the team through email distribution or basic access to the platform, we were able to reduce the time I spent showing people how to pull the data in Microsoft Excel by nearly 40% .
  • We ended up needing to make many changes to the way our DMP was feeding data into MicroStrategy due to incorrect reporting that caused complications in accounting and finance.
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SAP
  • It is a decent buy for specific departments in terms of reporting capabilities but updates and cost (frequent) demands are higher with the benefits offered.
  • So long as the requirements are not ever changing, with scheduling functionality, it's a handsome tool.
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ScreenShots

SAP Crystal Screenshots

Screenshot of Pixel-perfect reporting solutionScreenshot of Refresh with a clickScreenshot of Build pixel-perfect documentsScreenshot of Connect to all data sourcesScreenshot of Use drag and dropScreenshot of Build interactive reports