Laravel Pagination: Beyond the Basics

Tip: Simple Pagination

$posts = Post::simplePaginate(10);

Uses LIMIT/OFFSET without counting total rows. Faster for large datasets.

Gotcha: Cursor Pagination

$posts = Post::cursorPaginate(10);

No OFFSET — uses a cursor (ID) for the next page. Much faster for deep pagination.

Tip: Custom Pagination View

$posts->links('vendor.pagination.custom');

Publish the default views first: php artisan vendor:publish --tag=laravel-pagination.

Gotcha: Pagination with Query Strings

$posts->appends(['sort' => 'date'])->links();

Preserves query parameters across pages.

Tip: onEachSide() for More Page Links

$posts->onEachSide(2)->links();

Shows 2 page links on each side of the current page.

Gotcha: Manual Pagination

use Illuminate\Pagination\Paginator;
$paginator = new Paginator($items, $perPage, $currentPage);

Tip: Use route:cache Carefully

php artisan route:cache is fast, but it doesn't work with closure-based routes. Every time you cache routes, Laravel serializes them. If you have Route::redirect() or closure callbacks, the cache breaks. Stick to controller-based routes in production.

Tip: Model APP_KEY Rotation

Rotating APP_KEY invalidates all encrypted data — cookies, encrypted DB columns, and password reset tokens. If you must rotate (e.g., after a leak), plan a migration that re-encrypts existing data with the new key.

Gotcha: Local Scope Leaks

Global scopes defined in booted() apply to ALL queries on that model — including relationships. An innocent User::all() in admin panel might exclude soft-deleted users if a global scope is active.

Senior Insight

Pagination seems simple until you need cursor-based pagination for a real-time feed. Laravel's simplePaginate() is great for UI, but it breaks down when rows are inserted or deleted between page loads — users see duplicates or miss entries. For infinite scroll or API feeds, I always use cursor pagination. The implementation takes a bit more code, but the UX difference is dramatic.

Source: Laravel News (https://laravel-news.com/), Freek.dev (https://freek.dev/tags/laravel), Spatie Blog (https://spatie.be/blog)