MICROSOFT SQL SERVER
REST API
Turn a Microsoft SQL Server query into a secure REST API — no Data API Builder, no server to host.
Save a T-SQL query against your SQL Server database, mint a per-recipient API key, and hand a partner a live JSON endpoint. No Data API Builder to deploy, no open 1433 port, no shared login — just a governed, read-only SQL Server REST API in minutes.
Ask Nova, get SQL + charts
Meet Nova
One key per partner. No credentials shared.
Build an API
+more
Scheduled sync to 6+ platforms
Explore
+more
Query APIs with SQL, no code
Explore
+more
Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT & Grok talk to your data
Connect AIQuery Streams is a secure, real-time database integration platform that turns any saved SQL Server query into a partner-ready REST API endpoint — with per-recipient keys, read-only enforcement, and a full audit trail. You get a live SQL Server REST API (a clean REST API for SQL Server) without deploying Data API Builder, opening a database port, or hosting a gateway. Learn more at QueryStreams.com and sign up for free to publish your first SQL Server endpoint in minutes.
Why expose a Microsoft SQL Server database as a REST API?
Sooner or later, someone outside your team needs data that lives in Microsoft SQL Server — a client wants their numbers in a dashboard, a vendor wants a live feed instead of a nightly export, a partner’s app needs to read a slice of your tables. The usual answers all leak something. You email exports that are stale on arrival, you hand out a read-only SQL login that outlives the engagement, or you stand up Data API Builder or an ASP.NET Web API and inherit its auth, TLS, and patching forever. To expose a SQL Server database as a REST service the clean way, the partner gets a URL and a token, not your database. The hard part has always been building and operating that API safely. Query Streams makes it a saved query plus a key.
No open SQL Server port
You never expose 1433 to the internet or poke a hole in your firewall. The Network Agent dials out; inbound calls ride back down that one outbound connection.
Per-recipient API keys
Every recipient gets their own qsapi_* key. Revoke one without touching the others, and without rotating your SQL Server login.
Read-only by design
A read-only validator rejects any non-SELECT statement before it reaches SQL Server. There is no accidental UPDATE, MERGE, or DROP path through the API.
Your T-SQL stays private
The recipient sees the endpoint URL, the JSON response, and any filters you exposed — never your T-SQL, schema, instance name, or connection string.
Nothing to host or patch
No Data API Builder container, no ASP.NET app, no reverse proxy. The endpoint runs as a managed feature, so there is no deploy pipeline or TLS rotation to own.
Permanent, expiring, or self-destructing
Make an endpoint permanent, set it to expire on a date, or give it a fixed call budget that self-destructs after a set number of requests.
The usual ways to put a REST API on SQL Server — and why they hurt
There are well-known tools for building a SQL Server web API, and they are good at what they do. The catch is that every one of them leaves you owning infrastructure, a network exposure, or both. Here is how the common approaches compare to a Query Streams shared endpoint when the goal is simply “let a specific partner read a specific result set.”
| Concern | Microsoft Data API Builder | DIY ASP.NET Web API | Query Streams |
|---|---|---|---|
| Database reachable from the API | Host must reach SQL Server | Must reach SQL Server | Outbound-only Agent — no inbound port |
| What the recipient holds | A URL into your exposed entities | A URL into your service | A single-purpose key for one query |
| Schema exposure | Each configured entity is reachable | Whatever you hand-code | One saved query, nothing else |
| Per-recipient keys + revoke | Wire up your own auth | Build it yourself | Built in |
| Audit log of every call | Add it yourself | Add it yourself | Built in |
| You operate / patch / rotate TLS | Yes, forever | Yes, forever | Managed for you |
| Time to first endpoint | Hours to days | Days | Minutes |
Looking for a Data API Builder alternative for partner sharing?
Microsoft Data API Builder is excellent when you want a full, self-hosted REST and GraphQL surface over your own entities. If instead you want to hand a named partner one governed, read-only result set — with its own key, an audit trail, and no host to run — that is exactly the gap Query Streams fills. The two can coexist: Data API Builder for your internal app, Query Streams for outbound sharing.
How Query Streams turns a SQL Server query into a REST API
Once the Network Agent is installed and your SQL Server connector is configured, promoting a saved query to a shared REST endpoint takes about three steps. If you already use Query Streams for Excel, Google Sheets, or the MCP Server, your Agent and connector are already in place — you start at step two.
Connect SQL Server through the Agent
Install the Network Agent next to your database and add a SQL Server connector with a standard read-only login. The Agent makes an outbound TLS connection to Query Streams — your database is never exposed to the internet.
Save a T-SQL query
Write the SELECT in the Query Builder against your SQL Server connection — JOINs, CTEs, window functions, and parameters all welcome. Name it and save. Anything you can SELECT can become an endpoint.
Promote it and share a key
Open the Install tab, choose the endpoint type (permanent, expiring, or call-budget) and output format, then invite a recipient by email. They get a magic-link claim and their own qsapi_* key.
One saved query, many surfaces
The same saved SQL Server query can drive an Excel refresh, a Google Sheets sidebar, a Claude or Cursor conversation through the MCP Server, and a partner-facing REST endpoint at the same time. You build the query once; Query Streams handles the surfaces.
No open SQL Server port, no shared credentials
The security model is the reason teams reach for this instead of a public database port. Your SQL Server login lives only inside the Agent’s encrypted credential store on your network; it is never transmitted to our cloud and never visible to a recipient. On top of that, every endpoint gives you per-recipient controls you can tighten before you share.
Outbound-only Agent
The Agent connects out on port 443 — normal outgoing HTTPS, no inbound ports, VPN, or tunnel. why no inbound exposure is needed →
Read-only enforcement
A validator runs in the Agent, on your network, before any statement reaches SQL Server. Non-SELECT statements are rejected with READONLY_VIOLATION.
IP + CORS allowlists
Pin a recipient’s key to specific IPs or CIDR ranges, and restrict which browser origins may call each endpoint. Off-list calls are refused before any SQL runs.
Rate limits + byte quotas
Two-tier rate limits (per key and per endpoint) plus an optional monthly byte cap keep a noisy or runaway recipient inside a safe blast radius.
Call your SQL Server REST API
Recipients call the endpoint like any other REST API: a bearer token and a URL. Any saved-query parameter you exposed can be set per call — on the querystring for GET or in a JSON body for POST. The Agent binds those values as proper parameterized-query parameters, never string concatenation, so a recipient cannot break out of a filter to inject SQL.
Pick the output format per call with the Accept header (or a ?format= query parameter): JSON for a single array, CSV for spreadsheets and pandas, or, on a streaming endpoint, NDJSON (one JSON row per line) for parse-as-you-go pipelines. For bandwidth-sensitive consumers, opt into LZ4 payload compression with Accept-Encoding: lz4; uncompressed responses also get standard gzip on the wire automatically. For the full breakdown of static vs streaming modes, the four wire combinations, and OpenAPI 3.1 generation, see the Instant REST API for SQL databases guide.
How usage is billed
The API Platform is included in every plan and draws on the same monthly byte allowance as Excel, Sheets, and MCP — lz4 calls bill on compressed bytes moved, otherwise on uncompressed bytes. how byte-based billing works across surfaces →
Plug it into Power BI, Tableau, and anything that reads JSON
Because every endpoint returns standard JSON — with CSV and streaming NDJSON on tap — any tool that can read a REST feed consumes your SQL Server data directly, with nothing to install on their side and no SQL driver required. Power Query is the easiest bridge into the Microsoft BI stack: in Power BI choose Get Data → From Web, paste the endpoint URL, add your Authorization header, and Power Query parses the JSON into a refreshable table that feeds your data model. (For live data inside a spreadsheet, the native Query Streams Excel add-on is the simpler path — Power Query is there when you want the data in the Power BI model itself.)
Power Query
Get Data → From Web, paste the URL and bearer token, expand the JSON to a refreshable table
Power BI
Same Power Query engine — load the endpoint straight into your model and schedule refresh
Tableau
Point a Web Data Connector or JSON source at the endpoint for live dashboards
Postman
Import the OpenAPI 3.1 spec, then send, inspect, and share requests in one click
It also feeds n8n, Qlik, curl, Python (requests or pandas.read_json), Insomnia, Hoppscotch — or any script or workflow that can send an HTTP request and read JSON.
Works with Azure SQL and managed SQL Server too
It does not matter where your SQL Server runs. The Agent connects the same way to an on-premise instance or a managed service — Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, or Amazon RDS for SQL Server. For the lowest latency, deploy the Agent in the same network or region as the database; one Query Streams account can run multiple Agents across regions and clouds, and a single endpoint behaves identically regardless of which Agent serves it.
More than SQL Server
The same workflow promotes a saved query from PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, Snowflake, BigQuery, DuckDB, and more to a REST endpoint — SQL Server is just a popular starting point. every database the API Platform supports →
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to open a port or expose SQL Server to the internet? +
1433 by default) is never exposed and no inbound firewall rule is needed. how the outbound-only connection works →Can the recipient see my T-SQL or my database credentials? +
How is this different from Microsoft Data API Builder? +
What output formats can the API return? +
Accept header or a ?format= parameter, with optional LZ4 payload compression. the output formats and wire combinations explained →Can recipients filter the results, or do they get a fixed query? +
GET, JSON body for POST), and the Agent binds every value as a real query parameter so filters can’t inject SQL. how exposed parameters and safe binding work →Can an endpoint expire or self-destruct? +
Does it work with Azure SQL Database or Amazon RDS for SQL Server? +
Does the recipient need a Query Streams account? +
Get Started
Publish your first SQL Server REST API for free.
Sign up, install the Network Agent next to your SQL Server database, save a T-SQL query, and email a recipient a magic-link claim. Per-recipient keys, read-only enforcement, and a full audit trail are on from the first call.
Related guides: Instant REST API for SQL databases | Database REST API platform | Expose PostgreSQL as a REST API | Connector Setup guides
Category: API Platform
Tags: sql-server-rest-api, mssql-rest-api, rest-api-for-sql-server, sql-server-web-api, data-api-builder-alternative, expose-sql-server-as-api, share-sql-server-data, per-recipient-keys, no-code-api, database-rest-api
Meta Description: Turn a SQL Server query into a secure, read-only REST API with per-recipient keys — no Data API Builder, no open port, no code.
English 
Spanish 
German 
French 
Portuguese 
Japanese 
Korean 
Chinese 
Italian 
Dutch 
Indonesian 
Polish