SpringMeng

Oct 12, 2026 · Databases

Why OFFSET/LIMIT Pagination Fails at Scale: Cursor-Based Alternative 1000x Faster

The article explains why OFFSET/LIMIT pagination causes full table scans and linear performance degradation with large offsets, demonstrates a 100k-row benchmark where cursor-based pagination using primary keys runs in 0.01s versus 12.80s for OFFSET, and recommends keyset pagination for scalable systems while noting limitations for tables without unique sequential columns.