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HeinziAT's avatar
HeinziAT
Brass Contributor
Nov 10, 2021

What's the future of RDLC ("client-side SSRS", aka "ReportViewer")?

This is the information I could gather so far:

  • Getting an RDLC renderer for .NET 5+ is currently the https://feedback.azure.com/d365community/idea/ec1af842-4d25-ec11-b6e6-000d3a4f0da0. Unfortunately, there are currently no plans to do that (see https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/announcing-net-5-0-preview-6/). There are some enthusiast ports/recompilations floating around on github and nuget, but they are not official.
  • The https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/sqlrsteamblog/ is dead, the last entry is from 2018.
  • There's a third-party company providing an RDLC renderer, but https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/sqlrsteamblog/microsoft-acquires-report-rendering-technology-from-forerunner-software. Nothing has been heard since.
  • There is currently no ReportViewer designer for Visual Studio 2022. Getting one is currently the https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/search?space=8&sort=votes&q=2022.

From a business perspective, I can totally understand that Microsoft is not giving this highly-loved feature the resources it needs. After all, they are basically giving away a great reporting engine for free, undermining their own SQL Server and Power BI sales. And they are not even hiding the fact that they'd rather have people purchase Power BI subscriptions, which is perfectly fine. They are a company, not a charity. Unfortunately, adding a dependency to a third-party cloud service is a no-go for many software development scenarios.

Thus, I would like to start a discussion on the following points:

  1. It seems to me that MS no longer wants people to use their RLDC reporting engine in new projects. Is this observation correct?
  2. If you have a large repository of RDLC reports in your project, what are your migration plans? Are there drop-in replacements from third parties?
  3. Would Microsoft consider open-sourcing the RLDC engine, so that the community can "keep the product alive" for legacy scenarios and prevent this from being a blocker in .NET 5+ migrations?

 

Best regards
Heinzi

visual studio

1 Reply

  • Manoranjan_Rajendran22's avatar
    Manoranjan_Rajendran22
    Copper Contributor
    Sep 04, 2025

    Thanks for kicking off this discussion on the future of RDLC. You've raised some critical points, and I'll address them based on the current state of RDLC and available solutions.

    1. Microsoft’s stance on RDLC: Microsoft appears to be deprioritizing RDLC in favor of RDL-based reporting and Power BI. The lack of official RDLC support for .NET 5+ and the absence of a ReportViewer designer for Visual Studio 2022 suggest they’re steering developers toward cloud-based solutions. Still, RDLC remains popular where client-side reporting is preferred.
    2. Migration options: For teams with a large repository of RDLC reports, some third-party solutions continue to support them on modern .NET versions. (Disclosure: I work at Syncfusion, where our Bold Reports platform supports SSRS RDLC files and provides an RDLC designer/viewer.) Other vendors may also offer viable paths, but it’s important to check long-term support for .NET 8+ and cross-platform deployment.
    3. Open-source possibilities: Open-sourcing the RDLC engine would be one way to sustain it for legacy use, though given Microsoft’s focus on Power BI, this seems unlikely. Community-led efforts exist but usually lack the polish of official support.

    Curious to hear what others are doing: Are you sticking with RDLC, migrating to RDL, or moving to other reporting tools?

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