Crystal Reports 2025 was released for purchase recently, but wasn’t available for a free trial download at that time.  As of today, Crystal Reports 2025 is available as a free trial.    If you are looking for what is different in Crystal Reports 2025 vs 2020, you can check out the “What’s New” page.

I haven’t touched my comparison of alternative reporting tools in a long time. This year I am adding two new reporting tools to the comparison: Clear Reports by iNet and CxReports by Codaxy. I have a separate article describing Clear Reports, which is very similar to Crystal.

CxReports takes a different approach. They use a page based layout approach (similar to SSRS) as opposed to the banded approach used by Crystal. The basis for each reports is a SQL query (or a script that combines SQL queries).  Calculated expressions are also done in the SQL query. Beyond creating the SQL, the GUI is designed for end users rather than developers. There are reusable themes and templates that allow consistent headers and footers across reports. The settings for each report are stored in an open format (JSON) file.

CxReports is designed as a SAAS tool, but it can be purchased and run locally on Windows or Linux, using Docker.  Pricing is tied to volume-based tiers, with more expensive tiers allowing for more users, more reports and more generated PDFs. Scheduling and automatic Email report delivery are included at all levels, subject to volume limits at each tier.

For a more detailed feature comparison you can download the feature matrix in the comparison article.

I was recently asked to do a project converting some Crystal Reports to iNet Clear Reports.  The customer assured me that the Clear Reports designer was very similar to Crystal Reports, and he was correct.  During the project I had no trouble finding my way around the Clear Reports menu.  The formula language is also virtually the same allowing me to copy and paste formulas directly from Crystal to Clear.  Below are the most important differences I found so far. I have also added Clear Reports to my comparison of alternative reporting tools which provides a more detailed feature comparison.

Note: The comments below are based on version 21, which this customer uses.  The latest version is 24 and may have improvements over 21.

Major disappointments:

• You can’t make modifications in preview. You must make all changes on the design tab. Every time you go back to the design tab you will have to refresh to preview.
• You can’t save the report with data. This is one of my favorite Crystal features, allowing me to work off line.
• All summaries are created as named objects, similar to Crystal running totals. When you create them you can determine if they behave as running totals or normal summaries.
• In Crystal you could copy a row of subtotals and past them into the report footer to make the same row of grand totals, because summary fields in Crystal are relative to the section containing them. You can’t do that with the named summaries in iNet.
• None of the third party software in Crystal Reports’ ecosystem will work with iNet.

Minor annoyances:

• You can’t drag multiple fields from the field explorer to the report design area. You must drag them out one at a time.
• When you drag an object from the field explorer there is no visible object outline to guide your placement. The object outline IS there when you move an object, but not when you first bring it out from the field explorer.
• The record count does not display in the status bar of the preview screen.
• iNet has a format painter (paintbrush) toolbar button, but you can’t make it “sticky” so a format can be applied to multiple fields by clicking on them in turn. You must click the paint brush again every time you want to apply it.

Other differences:

• iNet is licensed by server and the designer is free.
• iNet will run on Linux as well as Windows.
• iNet shows a real-time list of ‘problems’ (formula errors, unused fields, etc)
• iNet shows the data-type of all fields in the field explorer, not just database fields

Crystal Reports 2025 is now available for purchase from SAP. The cost is the same: $495 for a full license and $295 for an upgrade. Normally, SAP offers a trial download of the products they are selling, but there is no trial download for CR 2025. You can still download a trial of CR 2020 or CR 2016.

I won’t be upgrading to 2025 in the near future. I have worked with CR 2020 with several customers but I have not installed it in my own environment. I still prefer using the 32-bit CR 2016, which is also still being sold. The main reason is that I am not yet ready to give up the legacy connection options available on the 32-bit platform.

If you are interested in what is new you can look at this SAP article.  Most of the new features are for users at the enterprise level.