Django Pagination Performance

Use this skill when a Django list view or API slows down as pages get deeper or result sets grow. Pagination is a query-design problem as much as a response-shaping problem.

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.