What happens when the trial or my subscription ends?

[streamxls-dev]

A question people ask in IBKR trading forums — answered here so it's searchable.

[streamxls-dev]

StreamXLS stops serving data at the end of the trial or subscription period. Nothing else changes: StreamXLS does not remove itself or your workbooks.

What you see in the sheet.

• Status and metadata formulas (LICENSE_STATE, LICENSE_MESSAGE, connection status) keep working, so you can always see why data stopped.
• Data formulas show a short text message — for example StreamXLS trial expired — purchase at https://streamxls.com/buy; activate in StreamXLS Control Panel; data resumes automatically after activation (restart Excel to re-check immediately).
• One thing to guard: the message is text sitting in cells your formulas expect to be numbers, and Excel does not flag that — a comparison treats text as greater than any number, and SUM, AVERAGE, MAX and MIN skip it silently. If a workbook drives decisions off those cells, wrap the references (=IF(ISNUMBER(Price), …, …)) rather than assuming a lapse surfaces as #N/A.
• Manual: when your license or trial lapses mid-session.

Trial. The 30-day trial starts automatically the first time StreamXLS is used in Excel — no key, no sign-up, no credit card. As it nears its end, the StreamXLS Control Panel raises Windows notifications about seven days out, then three, then one, then on the last day (unless you have switched reminders off — see below). When it ends, data formulas show the message above until a license is activated. Buying during the trial is fine: activate the key when it arrives. (An Excel instance that was already open can keep reporting LICENSE_STATE = Trial for up to six hours, which is harmless — restart Excel to see the change to Paid immediately.)

Subscription. Subscriptions renew automatically at the then-current rate unless you cancel (license agreement §3(a)). Freemius, our merchant of record, sends a courtesy reminder before renewals, and your renewal date and amount are always visible at streamxls.com/account — which is also where you can cancel your subscription. Cancelling takes effect at the end of the paid period; paid periods are non-refundable (§5). If a renewal rate is ever going to change, the new rate is emailed at least 30 days before it takes effect; if that notice does not go out, the renewal is at your prior rate (§3(a)).

A temporary licensing-service outage is not a lapse. StreamXLS distinguishes a definitive answer (the license expired or was revoked) from an indeterminate one (the license server cannot be reached right now). On an outage, a machine that was already verified keeps functionality. Once the local license token is running short of time to re-verify, StreamXLS attempts to alert you through Windows notifications about a week, three days and one day before it runs out. In that case, the solution is to allow-list api.cryptlex.com through your firewall or VPN.

If StreamXLS goes away. The license agreement commits us to refund the unused, pro-rated portion of your current paid period if we discontinue the product, and — if the product is permanently discontinued — to configure outstanding license tokens to run without further validation; or to ship a build that does require licensing.

When data comes back. Formulas that were live when the lapse happened repair themselves on the next refresh once the license re-verifies; formulas first entered while data was withheld are re-registered automatically. The exception, by design: an order-staging formula blocked during a lapse is never resent; re-enter it (F2, Enter) if you want it sent.

Reminders can be switched off in the StreamXLS Control Panel ("Remind me before my trial or license expires" checkbox). Disabling reminders also withdraws any StreamXLS message sitting in the Windows notification center. Windows' own per-app notification setting for StreamXLS can also silence them. At most one reminder appears per day, and a lapsed license is announced once rather than repeatedly.

Details: streamxls.com/faq · license agreement: streamxls.com/eula.