Every QGIS beginner hits the same moment: a blank canvas and a need to see the ground. Satellite imagery fills that gap, but there are three very different ways to add it, and choosing the wrong one causes problems later. Streamed tiles are quick and pretty. Downloaded imagery is slower to get but is the only option for real analysis. Knowing which one you need, and what you are allowed to do with it, saves hours of rework.

The fastest route is an XYZ tile connection: a web address that serves map tiles for your current view. In the Browser panel, right-click XYZ Tiles, choose New Connection, give it a name, and paste the tile URL. The imagery appears instantly and follows you as you pan and zoom, which makes it ideal for orientation, digitising rough features, and presenting a familiar background under your own data.

The catch is licensing and capability. The popular Google satellite tile URL passed around in tutorials is not licensed for professional use, and a streamed mosaic is a picture, not data: you cannot pick its date, you cannot access its spectral bands, and you cannot run analysis on it. Use XYZ tiles for looking, never as the input to a client deliverable or a scientific result.