Eloquent Cursor Pagination & Lazy Collections at Scale | Mohamed Said [ ![Mohamed Said](https://cdn.msaied.com/01KT78WE565VEMM3PSNQAAB0MH.png) Mohamed Said Laravel Backend Engineer ](https://msaied.com) [ Home ](https://msaied.com) [ Projects ](https://msaied.com/projects) [ Articles ](https://msaied.com/articles) [ Certificates ](https://msaied.com/certificates) [ Contact ](https://msaied.com#contact-section) [ ](https://github.com/EG-Mohamed) [ Home ](https://msaied.com) [ Projects ](https://msaied.com/projects) [ Articles ](https://msaied.com/articles) [ Certificates ](https://msaied.com/certificates) [ Contact ](https://msaied.com#contact-section) [ home ](https://msaied.com) [ articles ](https://msaied.com/articles) Cursor Pagination, Chunked Iteration, and Lazy Collections at Scale in Laravel On this page 1. [ The Problem With Offset at Scale ](#the-problem-with-offset-at-scale) 2. [ Cursor Pagination ](#cursor-pagination) 3. [ Gotchas ](#gotchas) 4. [ Chunked Iteration ](#chunked-iteration) 5. [ Lazy Collections ](#lazy-collections) 6. [ Combining Lazy Collections With Chunking ](#combining-lazy-collections-with-chunking) 7. [ Choosing the Right Tool ](#choosing-the-right-tool) 8. [ Key Takeaways ](#key-takeaways) ![Cursor Pagination, Chunked Iteration, and Lazy Collections at Scale in Laravel](https://cdn.msaied.com/355/3a6df23a2c16b740843260134fad7c63.png) #laravel #eloquent #performance #database #pagination Cursor Pagination, Chunked Iteration, and Lazy Collections at Scale in Laravel ================================================================================ 3 Jul 2026 4 min read ![Mohamed Said](https://cdn.msaied.com/01KT78WE565VEMM3PSNQAAB0MJ.jpg) Mohamed Said Table of contents 1. [ 01 The Problem With Offset at Scale ](#the-problem-with-offset-at-scale) 2. [ 02 Cursor Pagination ](#cursor-pagination) 3. [ 03 Gotchas ](#gotchas) 4. [ 04 Chunked Iteration ](#chunked-iteration) 5. [ 05 Lazy Collections ](#lazy-collections) 6. [ 06 Combining Lazy Collections With Chunking ](#combining-lazy-collections-with-chunking) 7. [ 07 Choosing the Right Tool ](#choosing-the-right-tool) 8. [ 08 Key Takeaways ](#key-takeaways) The Problem With Offset at Scale -------------------------------- Offset-based pagination (`LIMIT 100 OFFSET 50000`) forces the database to scan and discard 50,000 rows before returning your page. On a table with millions of rows and a busy write workload, that scan gets expensive fast — and the query plan degrades non-linearly. Laravel gives you three tools to escape this trap: **cursor pagination**, **chunked iteration**, and **lazy collections**. Each solves a different problem. Reaching for the wrong one wastes either memory or database round-trips. --- Cursor Pagination ----------------- Cursor pagination encodes the last-seen row's ordered column value into an opaque token. The next page becomes a `WHERE` clause rather than an `OFFSET`. ```php // Route handler $users = User::orderBy('id') ->cursorPaginate(50); return UserResource::collection($users); ``` The generated SQL looks like: ```sql SELECT * FROM users WHERE id > 3847 ORDER BY id ASC LIMIT 51; -- one extra to detect next page ``` The cursor itself is a base64-encoded JSON payload containing the column values at the boundary. Laravel's `CursorPaginator` handles encoding and decoding transparently. ### Gotchas - **You must order by a unique, indexed column** (or a combination that is effectively unique). Non-unique cursors produce inconsistent pages. - Cursor pagination does not support jumping to arbitrary pages — it is forward/backward only. If your UI needs page numbers, stick with `paginate()`. - When ordering by a non-unique column (e.g., `created_at`), add `id` as a tiebreaker: `->orderBy('created_at')->orderBy('id')`. ```php $orders = Order::orderBy('created_at')->orderBy('id') ->cursorPaginate(25); ``` Laravel will encode both columns into the cursor token automatically. --- Chunked Iteration ----------------- When you need to process every row in a table — exports, migrations, backfills — loading everything into memory at once is fatal. `chunk()` issues repeated queries, each fetching a fixed batch. ```php User::orderBy('id')->chunk(1000, function (Collection $users) { foreach ($users as $user) { ProcessUser::dispatch($user); } }); ``` Under the hood this is still offset-based, so on very large tables the later chunks slow down. Use `chunkById()` instead — it rewrites each batch as a keyed `WHERE id > ?` query: ```php User::chunkById(1000, function (Collection $users) { $users->each(fn ($u) => ProcessUser::dispatch($u)); }); ``` `chunkById()` requires an ordered, unique column (defaults to the model's primary key). It is safe to modify rows inside the callback because the cursor advances by ID, not by offset. --- Lazy Collections ---------------- `LazyCollection` wraps a PHP generator, pulling one row at a time from the database cursor. Memory usage stays flat regardless of result set size. ```php User::cursor()->each(function (User $user) { // Only one User model in memory at a time $user->recalculateScore(); $user->saveQuietly(); }); ``` The underlying PDO fetch mode is set to `PDO::FETCH_LAZY`, and Eloquent hydrates one model per iteration. This is ideal for read-heavy pipelines where you do not need to batch database writes. ### Combining Lazy Collections With Chunking For write-heavy pipelines, combine `cursor()` with `chunk()` on the `LazyCollection` to batch inserts while keeping memory low: ```php User::cursor() ->chunk(500) ->each(function (LazyCollection $batch) { $records = $batch->map(fn ($u) => [ 'user_id' => $u->id, 'score' => $u->computeScore(), ])->all(); Score::upsert($records, ['user_id'], ['score']); }); ``` This pattern keeps one chunk (500 models) in memory at a time while issuing a single `UPSERT` per batch. --- Choosing the Right Tool ----------------------- | Scenario | Tool | |---|---| | API pagination with forward/back navigation | `cursorPaginate()` | | Full-table processing, safe to modify rows | `chunkById()` | | Read-only streaming pipeline, minimal memory | `cursor()` / `LazyCollection` | | Batched writes over a large result set | `cursor()->chunk()` | --- Key Takeaways ------------- - `OFFSET` pagination degrades at scale; cursor pagination replaces it with an indexed `WHERE` clause. - Always pair cursor pagination with a unique ordered column or a composite tiebreaker. - `chunkById()` is safer than `chunk()` when modifying rows inside the callback. - `LazyCollection::cursor()` holds one model in memory at a time — ideal for streaming reads. - Combine `cursor()->chunk()` for memory-efficient batched writes over millions of rows. Found this useful? [ ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmsaied.com%2Farticles%2Fcursor-pagination-chunked-iteration-and-lazy-collections-at-scale-in-laravel-1&text=Cursor+Pagination%2C+Chunked+Iteration%2C+and+Lazy+Collections+at+Scale+in+Laravel) [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmsaied.com%2Farticles%2Fcursor-pagination-chunked-iteration-and-lazy-collections-at-scale-in-laravel-1) Frequently Asked Questions ---------------------------- 3 questions Q01 Can I use cursor pagination with a non-unique sort column like `created\_at`? Yes, but you must add a unique tiebreaker such as `id` to the `orderBy` chain. Laravel will encode both columns into the cursor token, ensuring stable page boundaries even when multiple rows share the same `created_at` value. Q02 What is the difference between `chunk()` and `chunkById()` in Eloquent? `chunk()` uses LIMIT/OFFSET internally and can return duplicate or skipped rows if the table is modified during iteration. `chunkById()` advances via a `WHERE id > ?` clause, making it safe to insert, update, or delete rows inside the callback. Q03 When does `LazyCollection::cursor()` outperform `chunkById()`? `cursor()` is best for read-only streaming pipelines where you process one row at a time and do not need to batch writes. For write-heavy workloads, `chunkById()` or `cursor()->chunk()` reduces the number of individual database round-trips. 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