Keep Power Query for shaping data. Use this for live database rows.
Power Query is a transformation editor with a connector bolted on. When all you want is the current rows from SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL or Oracle in a worksheet that anyone on the team can refresh — on Windows, Mac or Excel on the web, without a driver, a gateway or a connection string in the workbook — a small Agent next to the database and the Query Streams add-in does that job in about ten minutes.
If Power Query is what you have, here is the honest version
Power Query is excellent at what Microsoft built it for: connecting to a source, then reshaping the data through recorded steps you can replay. The friction people search this page for comes from asking it to be something else — a live, shared database feed. Four facts from Microsoft’s own documentation explain most of the complaints:
| What you hit | Why, in Microsoft’s words |
|---|---|
| Refresh only works while the workbook is open | Refresh is manual, on open, or “every n minutes” — all inside an open Excel session. Scheduled refresh with Excel closed needs Power BI or Power Automate around it. |
| Slow on big tables | Steps that cannot be translated to the source (“folded”) run in Excel’s own engine, which means pulling the rows to your computer first. CSV and Excel sources never fold. |
| “Formula.Firewall” and privacy-level prompts | Privacy levels block combining sources of different sensitivity; the escape hatch, ignoring them, “could expose sensitive or confidential data to an unauthorized person.” Excel for Mac does not support privacy levels at all. |
| The workbook carries the connection | The data source, its login and the drivers it needs travel with the file. Every colleague who refreshes needs the same access, and the connection string is one click away in Data Source Settings. |
None of that is a bug. It is what a desktop ETL tool is. The alternative below moves the query off the desktop and leaves Power Query to do the shaping it is good at.
What you’ll end up with
A worksheet that holds the result of a SQL query against your database, with a task pane that re-runs it on one click. Excel on Windows, Excel for Mac and Excel on the web all get the same thing, because the query does not run in Excel. Like this:
Sales.xlsx — Excel| A | B | C | D | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | customer_id | first_name | last_name | country | total |
| 2 | 1042 | Maria | Alvarez | USA | 1,284.50 |
| 3 | 1043 | Daniel | Okafor | USA | 612.00 |
| 4 | 1047 | Priya | Nair | USA | 2,090.75 |
| 5 | 1051 | Thomas | Berg | USA | 338.20 |
| 6 | 1056 | Lucía | Ferreira | USA | 1,455.00 |
| 7 | 1060 | Kenji | Sato | USA | 874.10 |
| 8 |
Live from your databaseThe difference is where the query runs. With Power Query, Excel opens a connection into the database from each user’s computer and does the work there. With Query Streams, a small program called the Agent runs on one computer that can already reach the database, makes one outbound connection to Query Streams and runs the SQL there. The add-in asks for the rows and writes them into the sheet. Nobody who opens the workbook needs a driver, a VPN or the database password.
What you’ll need
The Agent on a computer that can reach the server
A small program that runs in the background and queries the database when Excel asks. Often the database server itself, or any always-on computer on the same network.
Your own connection details
The server name, the database name, and a username and password that can read it. If someone else manages the database, this is the bit to ask them for.
Which computer gets the Agent? Any always-on machine that can already reach your own database, often the database server itself or a computer on the same network. Excel can be anywhere, including Excel on the web.
Set it up in four steps
-
Create your account
Go to my.querystreams.com and sign up. Pick the Free plan. It is a real plan, not a trial, and it covers two connections and ad-hoc SQL from the Excel add-in.
Install the Agent on a computer that can reach the server
Sign in, open Download, and install the Agent on a machine that can already reach your own database: often the database server itself, or any always-on computer on the same network. It takes a minute and starts on its own from then on.
Why a small program instead of a driver? The Agent is one install for Windows, Mac or Linux (about 85 MB on Windows, a little over 100 MB on Mac and Linux) that runs quietly in the background. It makes one outbound, encrypted connection to Query Streams, the same way a browser does, so you open no firewall port and set up no VPN. Your database stays on your network, and the rows travel to wherever you are, across the internet if need be. The only thing on your side is the add-in.
The Download page shows Your Access Key. Paste it into the Agent when it asks, and wait for the badge to read Connected to Query Streams. That is the only thing you do on the Agent itself.
-
Add your database connection
In the portal open Data → Data Agents, click Add connector on your Agent, choose the database type and fill in the host, port, database and a read-only login. Click Test connection; when it reads Connected, pick the databases to include under Schema capture and click Save.
No gateway, no ODBC. This is the only place the database login is typed, and it is typed once. The Agent talks to the database from inside your network and to Query Streams outbound over HTTPS. Nothing is installed on the computers that use Excel.
-
Run the SQL from Excel
In Excel, install the Query Streams add-in from Microsoft’s add-in marketplace if you have not yet, sign in with your Query Streams account, and click Stream a Query. Pick your connection and paste a query:
Example · SQLSELECT customer_id, name, city FROM customers ORDER BY name LIMIT 1000;
Under Destination Sheet choose Create a new sheet and press the play button (the ▶ arrow). The rows land under your column headers. Press it again whenever you want the latest data; it is the same on Windows, Mac and Excel on the web. To have the sheet refresh on its own, save the query in Query Builder and set up an Automation, every five minutes to weekly, with the workbook closed.
That’s it. Your data is in the sheet and stays current with one click. Nothing left your network except the rows you asked for.
Side by side, only what holds up
| Power Query | Query Streams | |
|---|---|---|
| What you write | Clicks in the editor, recorded as M | The SQL, or nothing if a colleague shared the query |
| Where the query runs | Each user’s computer; folded steps on the source | The Agent, once, next to the database |
| Reshaping data | Its strength: several hundred transformations | Whatever SQL can express; keep Power Query for the rest |
| Combining sources | Merge or Append steps; each source is loaded into the workbook first; privacy levels decide what may fold together, and Formula.Firewall stops what may not | One federated SQL statement across two or more connections, each queried read-only by its own Agent and joined server-side; no privacy-level prompts because nothing is combined on your computer |
| Refresh | Manual, on open, or every n minutes while open | One click, or an Automation on a schedule with Excel closed |
| Where the login lives | In the workbook’s connection, on each computer | On the Agent only; Excel users never see it |
| Drivers, gateways, VPN | Whatever the source needs, on each computer | None on the Excel side; the Agent connects out over HTTPS |
| Giving a colleague the data | Send the workbook; they need the same access and drivers | Share the query’s results; they press play |
| Excel for Mac and Excel on the web | Mac: fewer sources and no privacy levels; web: limited | Same add-in, same result everywhere |
| Large results | Held in Excel’s engine unless every step folds | Streamed from the Agent; your plan’s data allowance is the ceiling |
Combining sources: Power Query’s strongest card, and the answer to it
Merging two databases is where Power Query earns its keep, and where the Formula.Firewall prompts come from, because both sources are pulled to your computer and combined there. Query Streams does the same job with a federated query: one SQL statement over two or more connections. In the Query Builder choose New Query → Federated query, pick the connections (each gets an alias), and name tables as alias.schema.table. The connections can be different engines — SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, Snowflake, BigQuery and more SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, Snowflake, BigQuery and more — or an API connector or a folder of files, each behind its own Agent. Each source is asked only for its piece, in its own dialect, read-only; the rows are joined on Query Streams, not on your laptop. The Plan tab shows what each database will be asked before you run.
SELECT o.order_id, o.total, c.name, c.city FROM shop.public.orders AS o JOIN crm.dbo.customers AS c ON c.customer_id = o.customer_id WHERE o.ordered_at >= '2026-09-01' ORDER BY o.total DESC;
Save it once and it runs unchanged from the Excel add-in, Google Sheets, the REST API, Claude via MCP and scheduled syncs. It is on every plan, including Free, which joins two connections and returns up to 250 rows. Today a federated statement is a single SELECT with joins, filters, grouping and window functions; CTEs, sub-queries and UNION are not supported yet. How federated queries work.
When Power Query is still the right tool
Merging files, unpivoting reports, cleaning columns, building a model you refresh yourself on your own machine: that is Power Query’s home ground and nothing here replaces it. A common pattern is both at once — Query Streams brings the live rows into a sheet, and a Power Query step reads that sheet as its source, so the shaping keeps working while the fetching stops breaking.
What the plans allow
Ad-hoc SQL from the Excel add-in is on every plan, including Free. Free includes two connections and a monthly data allowance of 5 MB of results, enough for a table like the one above refreshed many times a day. Running queries you saved in Query Builder from the add-in starts at Personal Core; queries a colleague shares with you run on every plan. Compare the plans.
Free is a plan you keep. It is not a trial that expires. See exactly what it includes on the pricing page.
Questions people ask
Is this a Power Query replacement?
For fetching live rows from a database and sharing them, yes. For transformations, no: there is no step editor. Write the shaping into the SQL, do it in the sheet, or point a Power Query step at the sheet Query Streams fills.
Does it work in Excel for Mac and Excel on the web?
Yes, the same add-in. The query runs on the Agent, so Excel only has to display rows; nothing about the operating system or the browser changes what you can connect to.
Do I still need an ODBC driver or the on-premises data gateway?
No. The Agent has its own database drivers built in and connects out over HTTPS. Excel needs only the add-in.
How big a result can it bring back?
The Agent streams rows rather than holding the result in Excel’s engine, so the practical ceilings are your plan’s monthly data allowance and Excel itself (1,048,576 rows per sheet). Free includes 5 MB of results a month; paid plans raise it.
Can I schedule a refresh without leaving Excel open?
Yes. Save the query in Query Builder and create an Automation. It writes the latest rows to the workbook on a schedule, from every five minutes to weekly, whether or not anyone has it open.
Does Excel have to be on the same computer as your own database?
No. Only the Agent has to be where your own database is. Excel can be on any computer with an internet connection, including Excel on the web and Excel on a Mac. Sign in to the add-in with your account and your connections are there.
Does my data get copied to Query Streams?
No. The Agent runs the query where your data is and sends only the rows it returns. Nothing is synced or stored in between.
Does the Free plan really cover this?
Yes. Free is a plan you keep, not a trial that expires. See exactly what it includes on the pricing page.
Does it work with Excel for Mac?
Yes. Excel for Microsoft 365 on Mac and Windows, and Excel on the web.
Related guides
Setup trouble?
- Agent shows Offline, or Test connection and Browse are greyed out? Check that the Agent is online → Is the Agent online?
English 
Spanish 
German 
French 
Portuguese 
Japanese 
Korean 
Chinese 
Italian 
Dutch 
Indonesian 
Polish