How to Paginate Results in MongoDB: Simple Guide

To paginate results in MongoDB, use the skip() method to skip a number of documents and limit() to restrict the number of documents returned. This combination lets you fetch results page by page efficiently.

Syntax

Pagination in MongoDB uses two main methods on a query: skip(n) and limit(m).

• skip(n): Skips the first n documents in the result set.
• limit(m): Limits the result to m documents.

Use them together to get a specific page of results.

mongodb

db.collection.find().skip(n).limit(m)

Example

This example shows how to get the second page of results with 3 documents per page from a collection named products.

javascript

const page = 2;
const pageSize = 3;

const results = db.products.find()
  .skip((page - 1) * pageSize)
  .limit(pageSize)
  .toArray();

printjson(results);

Output

[
  { "_id": 4, "name": "Product D", "price": 40 },
  { "_id": 5, "name": "Product E", "price": 50 },
  { "_id": 6, "name": "Product F", "price": 60 }
]

Common Pitfalls

Common mistakes when paginating in MongoDB include:

• Using skip() with very large numbers causes slow queries because MongoDB must scan skipped documents.
• Not sorting results before paginating can lead to inconsistent pages.
• Assuming skip() and limit() work well for very large datasets without optimization.

To fix these, always use sort() before paginating and consider using range queries or indexed fields for large collections.

mongodb

/* Wrong: No sort, large skip */
db.products.find().skip(10000).limit(10);

/* Right: Sort by _id before paginating */
db.products.find().sort({_id: 1}).skip(10000).limit(10);

Quick Reference

Method	Description	Example
skip(n)	Skips first n documents	skip(10)
limit(m)	Limits result to m documents	limit(5)
sort(criteria)	Sorts documents by criteria	sort({_id: 1})

Key Takeaways

Use skip() and limit() together to paginate MongoDB query results.

Always sort results before paginating to ensure consistent order.

Avoid large skip values on big collections to prevent slow queries.

Consider range queries or indexed fields for efficient large-scale pagination.