Offset vs Cursor Pagination: Choosing the Right Strategy for Scalable APIs

Pagination is a technique that splits large database results into smaller chunks, and choosing the wrong approach can severely degrade API performance as data scales. Offset pagination, the most commonly learned method, works by skipping a set number of rows before returning results, making it simple to implement and ideal for admin dashboards where users jump between pages. However, at large offsets — such as skipping five million rows — the database must still scan all preceding records, causing significant slowdowns and potential duplicate or missing data when new records are inserted mid-browse. Cursor pagination addresses these issues by continuing from the last retrieved record rather than skipping rows, resulting in consistent, efficient queries regardless of dataset size. While cursor pagination cannot support direct page jumps, it is well-suited for infinite scroll and mobile applications, and is the preferred approach used by companies handling millions of records.