Cursor Pagination in Django: The Right Way to Paginate Large Datasets

Offset-based pagination degrades at scale because SQL OFFSET forces the database to scan and discard thousands of rows. Cursor pagination fixes this by anchoring queries to a specific record position using indexed fields, delivering constant query time regardless of dataset depth. Django REST Framework ships with CursorPagination built in — the post walks through creating a custom paginator class, applying it to a view, setting it globally, handling compound ordering for non-unique fields, and ensuring proper database indexes. The response format uses opaque base64-encoded cursors that clients follow without decoding. Trade-offs are covered: cursor pagination doesn't support arbitrary page jumps or total page counts, making offset pagination still appropriate for admin interfaces or small datasets.