Django Pagination Performance

Workflow

1. Confirm the list contract.
   • Is arbitrary page access required, or only next/previous?
   • Does the UI need a total count?
   • Can ordering be fixed and stable?
   • What page size limit is acceptable?
2. Measure the current query.
   • Capture SQL for the page query and count query.
   • Check ordering, indexes, and high page numbers.
   • Use

     QuerySet.explain()

     for deep pages.
3. Choose the pagination style.
   • Use Django

     Paginator

     for moderate result sets and arbitrary page access.
   • Use capped offset pagination when page numbers are useful but deep pages should be limited.
   • Use keyset/cursor pagination for large feeds, timelines, logs, and infinite scroll.
   • Use DRF

     CursorPagination

     for API next/previous navigation with stable ordering.
4. Make ordering deterministic.
   • Use a unique or nearly unique immutable ordering field.
   • Add a primary-key tie breaker when needed.
   • Ensure the index matches filters plus ordering.

Safety Notes

• Deep

  LIMIT/OFFSET

  pages can be slow because the database still walks skipped rows.
• Unordered querysets produce inconsistent pages.
• Cursor pagination restricts arbitrary page jumps and user-controlled ordering.
• Large exact counts can dominate list latency.

Verification