Dotnet Report vs. Telerik Reporting: Which Is Right for Your .NET SaaS?

If you're evaluating embedded reporting for a .NET SaaS application, Telerik Reporting and Dotnet Report will both appear on your list. They're both mature, .NET-native products — but they're designed around fundamentally different workflows.

The Core Difference

Telerik Reporting is designed for developer-authored report delivery. A developer or report author uses the Telerik Visual Studio designer to create report definitions. Those reports are then delivered to end users who can view and filter them. Users can't build reports from scratch without designer access.

Dotnet Report is designed for user self-service. You expose your data model to Dotnet Report's engine, and your customers use a drag-and-drop builder to create their own reports — choosing columns, setting filters, picking chart types. Developer involvement per report drops to near zero after initial setup.

Multi-Tenant Isolation: The Key Difference for SaaS

Telerik doesn't have built-in multi-tenant isolation. If you serve multiple clients from a shared database, you implement tenant scoping yourself in every report definition. That works but creates maintenance risk — one missed filter can expose one client's data to another.

Dotnet Report enforces isolation at the query layer via a GetCurrentUser endpoint you implement:

[HttpGet("getCurrentUser")]
[Authorize]
public IActionResult GetCurrentUser()
{
    return Ok(new {
        clientId = User.FindFirst("tenant_id")?.Value,
        dataFilters = new[] {
            new { Field = "TenantId", Value = User.FindFirst("tenant_id")?.Value }
        },
        allowedTables = new[] { "Orders", "Customers", "Products" }
    });
}

These filters are applied server-side before any SQL executes. Users cannot override them in the report builder — they're enforced at the query layer, not the UI layer.

Pricing Model Comparison

Telerik Reporting: Per developer per year (~$1,500-$2,000+ per seat as part of DevCraft Complete). Cost rises with team size.

Dotnet Report: Fixed subscription regardless of the number of developers, end users, or tenants. Predictable and flat as you scale.

For SaaS economics, the distinction matters: as you add more customers and grow your team, Telerik costs scale up with headcount. Dotnet Report stays flat.

User Self-Service

Telerik: Provides a Web Report Designer for power users and report authors to create/edit reports in a browser. For non-technical end users who need to build reports from scratch, the UX requires training.

Dotnet Report: The drag-and-drop report builder is designed for non-technical business users. Finance managers, ops leads, customer success teams can build their own reports without SQL knowledge or training. Comparable in difficulty to building a pivot table in Excel.

Full Feature Comparison

Feature	Dotnet Report	Telerik Reporting
User self-service builder	Full drag-and-drop	Limited (power user designer)
Multi-tenant isolation	Built-in at query layer	DIY implementation
Pricing model	Fixed subscription	Per developer per year
Open-source front-end	Yes (MIT license)	No (proprietary viewers)
White-label branding	Full control	CSS theming only
Report scheduling	Built-in, user-configurable	Requires Reporting Server add-on
Dashboard builder	Included	Limited
Pixel-perfect print reports	Operational focus	Strong
Non-relational data sources	Relational only	JSON, CSV, web service, etc.

When to Choose Telerik

• You need pixel-perfect, print-layout reports (invoices, regulatory documents)
• A dedicated report author creates and maintains all report definitions
• You already have Telerik DevCraft licenses
• Reporting consumers are internal users, not SaaS customers

When to Choose Dotnet Report

• Your customers need self-service (they build their own reports without developer involvement)
• Multi-tenant data isolation needs to be bulletproof and enforced at the query layer
• You want flat pricing that doesn't scale with developer headcount or tenant count
• You need full white-label control (the Angular front-end is open-source)

Full comparison: dotnetreport.com/blogs/dotnet-report-vs-telerik-reporting/

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