Today, working with very large amounts of data in web and mobile applications is quite common. Loading all data at once on screens such as blog posts, user lists, ticket records, or social media feeds can cause performance issues and negatively affect user experience. For this reason, data is usually divided into pages and loaded piece by piece. This method is called pagination.
One of the modern methods used for pagination is cursor based pagination. In this approach, instead of using the classic page number or offset logic, a pointer (cursor) that indicates where the data left off is used. The cursor is typically the ID or timestamp of the last retrieved record. In the first request, the system returns a certain number of records and provides the cursor information required to fetch the next set of data. When the user requests more data, the API continues with the logic of “fetch the records after this one.”
This method works more reliably, especially in systems where new data is continuously added. In offset-based pagination, when new records are inserted, page shifts or duplicate data may occur, whereas cursor pagination provides a more stable structure. Additionally, since it performs better with large data sets, it is frequently preferred in modern applications that use infinite scroll.
In conclusion, cursor based pagination is an effective pagination method that offers performance advantages, preserves data consistency, and improves user experience. It stands out as a highly successful solution, particularly in areas such as blog screens, ticket systems, and social media feeds.
