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# Pagination in .NET using EF Core

**[NikolaTech](https://daily.dev/sources/nikolatech)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

## Summary

Offset pagination is explained as a technique for splitting large datasets into manageable chunks using OFFSET and LIMIT (or Skip/Take in EF Core). The piece shows SQL examples and a C# EF Core implementation using Skip and Take, then demonstrates building a generic PagedList class that wraps paginated results with metadata like total pages, current page, and navigation flags. It notes offset pagination works best for small to medium datasets since performance degrades at higher offsets, and briefly mentions alternatives like keyset, seek, and hybrid pagination.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://nikolatech.net/blogs/pagination-dotnet-efcore>

## Questions this post answers

### How do I implement offset pagination in EF Core using Skip and Take?

Use Skip((pageNumber - 1) * pageSize) to skip prior records and Take(pageSize) to retrieve the current page, applied after an OrderBy clause and before calling ToListAsync. Wrapping results in a generic PagedList class that stores items, current page, page size, total count, and computed total pages adds useful metadata like HasNextPage and HasPreviousPage for API responses.

_daily.dev surfaces practical EF Core patterns like this for developers building paginated APIs._

### When should I use offset pagination instead of keyset or seek pagination?

Offset pagination is best for small to medium-sized datasets where sorted data and random access to arbitrary pages matter, since it is simple to implement with SQL's LIMIT and OFFSET. Its main drawback is that performance degrades as the offset grows larger, making it a poor fit for very large datasets compared to keyset or seek pagination.

_Developers weighing pagination strategies can track these trade-offs through daily.dev._

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- [Pagination in Entity Framework Core: Why Skip/Take Falls Apart on Hot Tables - Chris Woody Woodruff](https://daily.dev/posts/pagination-in-entity-framework-core-why-skip-take-falls-apart-on-hot-tables---chris-woody-woodruff-la973vnde) · We Are .NET · 1 upvotes · 0 comments
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---

Tags: [#.net](https://daily.dev/tags/.net), [#sql](https://daily.dev/tags/sql), [#c#](https://daily.dev/tags/c#)

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