Keyset pagination. Imagine you have one million record in a table, and you need to display them in a web page. The comparison uses the same operator for every field in the row ("key in the set"). However, the neat trick with composite type comparison doesn’t always work. Aug 19, 2025 · Keyset Pagination is the proven solution for modern APIs where performance and consistency matter. There are three key things you need to be able to use Keyset Pagination successfully. Learn how to use the SQL Keyset Pagination or Seek Method technique with JPA, Hibernate, and Blaze Persistence. Two dominant approaches are: Page Pagination (Offset Pagination) Cursor Pagination (Keyset Pagination) Each has technical, performance, and SEO implications. Implement pagination, sorting, and searching in ASP. is keyset pagination in front end only for next and previous ? because what I have learn about it, I could just use that N keep it for previous and. Differences between keyset pagination and cursors Cursors are stateful objects that use more database resources than keyset pagination, since each cursor holds open a transaction. Dec 29, 2021 · In Rowset Pagination, all previous rows must be read, before being able to read the next page. This is because the database needs to fetch all of the previous rows, even though it discards them. Keyset Pagination: The Smarter Way to Scroll That OFFSET query is killing your database. Pagination refers to retrieving results in pages, rather than all at once; this is typically done for large resultsets, where a user interface is shown that allows the user to navigate to the next or previous page of the results. Pros of Ordered Keyset Pagination 1. Let’s break them down. Feb 1, 2025 · Keyset pagination is a powerful technique for improving SQL query performance when paginating large datasets. Here is a concise list: Offsets can be terribly slow for large page numbers as is benchmarked here. Most of us have written pagination the same way since the dawn of CRUD apps: SELECT * FROM … Keyset Pagination is a powerful technique for improving database performance, especially for large datasets. Each page gives a cursor reference for the next one. There are a few peculiar aspects of the keyset pagination technique that you might not be familiar with. Pagination, pervasive as it is in web applications, is easy to implement inefficiently. This article explains why and how you can work around that shortcoming. All of the examples are for Postgres, though in my read-through of the post, I’d say it applies almost as well Pagination is a common requirement in web applications that need to display large datasets efficiently. A unique index on the columns you want to paginate by, either ascending or descending. That is, if you know the last element from page N-1, then you may fetch page N, but otherwise you really can’t. Offset Vs Keyset Pagination Wick do you prefer? #developers #tips #softwareengineer #api #programming #coding Keyset pagination avoids the classic OFFSET issues by “seeking” from the last record instead of skipping N rows, which keeps results stable and fast as data grows. While it works best with unique indexed columns, it can be adapted for non-unique sorting by using composite keys. If api call need to query database of huge size returning all … Keyset pagination would be fast enough without including value in the index, but I add it to get an index-only scan, so that the performance comparison with the other methods is fair. The second script shows this. Methods explored include limit-offset, cursors, keyset pagination, as well as more exotic techniques. Learn why keyset-based pagination outperforms traditional offset pagination in Postgres for large datasets (with practical examples). Skip()) is bad in many common cases here. The table is ordered according to the keyset, and then a where clause is formed using the same keyset to seek to the required data, preferrably using an index. So instead of saying “skip the first 10,000 rows,” i just tell the database: “Give me the next 20 rows after this timestamp. ” This is called seek pagination or keyset pagination. I'm going to go over a few benchmarks between offset and keyset pagination. API overview Synopsis Keyset pagination with ActiveRecord in Rails controllers: Offset-based pagination is best suited for smaller datasets or cases where users need to access pages directly but becomes less effective as data volume grows. Learn about API pagination methods: Offset-Based, KeySet-Based, and Cursor-Based approaches. This is often called the "seek method" or "keyset pagination" as described in this blog post here. I discussed the key differences between the two approaches, the benefits of keyset pagination, and the challenges associated with offset-based pagination. Instead of skipping records, cursor-based pagination retrieves the next set of records starting from a specific point, called cursor, usually based on a unique or sorted column. Learn implementation, performance benefits vs offset pagination, and see real API examples with code snippets. By returning a nextCursor instead of page, your API can handle infinite scroll, real-time data Keyset pagination is a method of retrieving data in chunks using a key (e. مقاله به بررسی دو رویکرد اصلی صفحهبندی میپردازد: صفحهبندی آفست (Offset pagination) که از شماره صفحه و اندازه صفحه برای نمایش دادهها در قالب صفحات استفاده میکند و صفحهبندی کلید (Keyset pagination) که Keyset-based pagination: Position marker transmitted in clear text (identifier/value of a key or a set of keys -a keyset- indexed in the table, which is passed again as a parameter to access the pagination and filtering on a very large table in postgresql (keyset pagination?) Asked 6 years, 1 month ago Modified 2 years ago Viewed 63k times Reducing server/database load Supporting crawlability and indexation Structuring content for search engines However, not all pagination methods are created equal. All the examples use MySQL, but ideas apply to other relational data stores like PostgreSQL, Oracle and SQL Server. Understand pros, cons, and indexing for high performance. NET Core Web API with EF Core 10. Types of Pagination There are four main approaches to pagination: Offset-Based Pagination (Page Number) Cursor-Based Pagination (Stateless) Keyset Pagination (Range-Based) Seek Method (SQL-Optimized) Let's explore each in detail. Implementing Keyset Pagination with Kotlin and Spring Data JPA Offset Pagination vs Key-Set Pagination In the world of huge data, it is not good/possible to show all data to front-facing applications. g. However, they are easier to use, and make it easier to get consistent results without having to write complex queries from your application logic. This is fine for smaller offsets, but once you start getting beyond a few pages, it can perform really badly. Keyset With keyset pagination, instead of using the OFFSET clause to skip rows to determine where the returned dataset should start, a WHERE clause is used to determine where the returned dataset should start. Keyset pagination revolves around keeping a copy of the last item you got in your query (the keyset) and then specifying all your new items for your next query should be after the keyset. In this tutorial, we’ll explore three methods for implementing pagination: Offset-based pagination with skip and limit. Keyset pagination uses a different approach. Summary In this article, we explored the implementation of keyset pagination and why it is a better alternative to offset-based pagination in EF Core. Offset based pagination is one of the most common technique for fetc Project description Keyset Pagination for Django. Day 65/100 - Cursor pagination + indexes for Registrations & Jobs (EventHub - Go + Postgres ) Today I extended the same keyset-pagination approach from Events to two more read-heavy areas: - GET Master keyset pagination with our complete guide. Instead of skipping rows, it excludes the records that were already returned from the result set. What Is Keyset Pagination? Keyset pagination, also known as cursor-based pagination, is a technique that retrieves the next set of records by using a reference to the last row from the previous page instead of skipping a fixed number of rows. Check the benchmarks section below for a quick look at the different performance Keyset Pagination ensures that no items are duplicated or omitted when transitioning between pages. Offset & keyset pagination, dynamic sorting, and performance tips. Cursor pagination is similar to keyset pagination but with a unique twist: instead of a key, it uses a “cursor” to point to the current page. This requires a unique sort order, often based on the primary key and an additional predicate in the where clause. Feb 2, 2026 · Learn how to implement keyset pagination (also known as seek pagination) for efficiently handling large datasets. Keyset pagination solves aims to solve these problems (while introducing a different set of limitations). 2023-05-14 · #pagination #benchmark Offset pagination is the most used pagination method, often for no other reason than it being the easiest most available choice. Most developers implement pagination using SQL queries with ORDER BY and LIMIT clauses The solutions are tested using a table with more than 100 million records. Learn how you can use the Keyset Pagination technique with Spring or Spring Boot. This is also known as keyset pagination. Cursor pagination is better for maintaining a consistent position and handling real-time updates in dynamic applications given that provides a straightforward way to achive it, on the other hand Keyset pagination can achive the same buy it may require additional effort when dealing with real-time updates, so the choice depends on the We look at 3 different methods for pagination with Django and Postgres and explain their benefits and tradeoffs so you can decide which is the best fit for you. next let say this query for page one, SELECT * How To Implement Cursor-Based Pagination Cursor-based pagination, also known as keyset or seek pagination, is a more efficient method for large datasets. Pagination approach The app demonstrates keyset (cursor-based) pagination against a MongoDB collection of claims, filtered by provider (and optional date range). Django pagination uses the LIMIT/OFFSET method. This is the recommended pattern for large result sets: no skip () —which gets slower as the offset grows—and consistent latency per page. The Fix: Keyset Pagination I rewrote the query using keyset pagination and that changed everything. Pre-generated result pages. Learn how it works, see examples, and compare it with other pagination methods, and how Merge can help you integrate with various APIs. You can read about keyset pagination and how it compares to the offset based pagination on our pagination guidelines page. At scale, poor pagination design can: Kill database performance Cause inconsistent results Break infinite scroll Create duplicate or missing records We Learn what the SQL Seek Method or Keyset Pagination is and why you should consider it when navigating over large results sets. Keyset pagination for EF Core (Entity Framework Core). Unlike LIMIT OFFSET, it ensures constant query performance by leveraging indexed lookups. Learn about why the standard offset based pagination (Take(). Keyset pagination contribute The keyset pagination library can be used in HAML-based views and the REST API within the GitLab project. Despite requiring state management and lacking random page access, its efficiency benefits make keyset pagination the better choice for processing substantial amounts of data in backend services and APIs. Keyset pagination offers a more efficient alternative by using indexed keys to fetch records directly. The core idea is to use a unique identifier or a combination of columns as your “keyset” to define the boundaries of each page. "Keyset pagination" with index support (the only kind that performs well) is based on Row Constructor Comparison. PS: OFFSET/LIMIT or SKIP/LIMIT pagination works of course, but neither is efficient on large data sets, which is why I'm trying to use "keyset" pagination. But in a lot of cases, keyset pagination can provide a much more performant pagination mechanism. Keyset Pagination Keyset pagination involves using a unique key from the data to determine where to start fetching the next set of records. You don’t have to do any fancy logic to get it to work unlike the proper way of paginating: keyset (also known as cursor) based pagination. This article shows how to use keyset pagination if you want to sort some columns in ascending and others in descending order. Also known as seek pagination or cursor pagination. Discover which one is best for your application and why. Learn how to implement pagination in EF Core using Offset and Keyset (Cursor-based) methods. Keyset pagination is a fast and efficient way to paginate large datasets by using a stable, indexed column as a reference point. Would you fetch 1 million records in a one shot and send it through an API? Probably not. We’ll cover: Why OFFSET pagination becomes slow in production How cursor-based pagination actually works How to implement Keyset pagination in Spring Boot API design and best practices . Whereas in Keyset Pagination, the server can jump immediately to the correct place in the index, so no extra rows are read that do not need to be. Keyset pagination requires forming what's called a keyset composed of a few columns. Instead of using an offset (like in traditional Using Keyset Pagination allows for better performing “next page” fetches, at the cost of not being able to randomly fetch a page. For it to work for pagination on multiple variable fields, I need to device a predicate that will always find the "next record" in the multi-field sort order. This post examines different methods of server-side pagination and their tradeoffs in PostgreSQL. This Chapter is focused on efficient scanning a large table using pagination with offset on the primary key. There is an entirely different, much faster way to perform pagination in SQL. Keyset pagination, also known as “seek pagination,” allows you to navigate through a dataset using a unique key from the last item displayed. Here’s the fix. , ID) to indicate the starting point for the next set of results. This guide covers the fundamentals, database indexing strategies, multi-column sorting, bidirectional navigation, and production best practices. Laurenz Albe digs into keyset pagination: Keyset pagination is the most performant way to retrieve a large result set page by page. Pagination is not just LIMIT 10 OFFSET 0. Advantages of keyset pagination each query fetches only that part of the result set that we need, so the performance will be better than with the other techniques 🚀 Ultra-Fast Pagination in Spring Boot Using Keyset Pagination (2025 Edition) Stop Using OFFSET — It’s Slowing Down Your APIs More Than You Think If your Spring Boot APIs use OFFSET/LIMIT … Learn how we can generate Keyset Pagination queries with the Spring Data WindowIterator utility and Window query results. Keyset pagination with range queries. a5xjov, 3if3, qg4uh, 3djc0, h0doe, dcom, qtqid, b7xo, eyqkf, dmhmsp,