MongoDB Aggregation $limit

MongoDB Aggregation $limit 🚦

In MongoDB, the $limit stage is used in an Aggregation Pipeline to restrict the number of documents passed to the next stage or returned as output.

What does $limit do?

  • Returns only the first N documents

  • Improves performance by reducing data early

  • Similar to LIMIT in SQL

Basic Syntax


📌 <number> must be a positive integer

1️⃣ Simple $limit Example

Get only 5 students


2️⃣ $limit with $sort (Most Common Use)

Top 3 oldest students


📌 $sort must come before $limit

3️⃣ $limit with $match

First 5 BA students


4️⃣ Pagination using $skip + $limit

Page 2 (5 records per page)


5️⃣ $limit after $group

Top 3 courses by student count


SQL vs MongoDB $limit

SQL


MongoDB


$limit vs limit()

$limitlimit()
Aggregation stageCursor method
Used in pipelineUsed with find()
Works with $groupCannot group

Example:


Best Practices ⚠️

  • Use $limit after $sort

  • Use $limit early for performance (when possible)

  • Combine with $skip for pagination

Common Mistakes ❌

  • Using $limit before $sort

  • Passing 0 or negative numbers

  • Expecting sorted results without $sort

Quick Recap 🧠


 

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