---
name: Load more
slug: load-more
category: pattern
status: published
created: 2026-08-21T00:00:00.000Z
modified: 2026-08-21T00:00:00.000Z
definition: A button at the end of a list that fetches and appends the next
  batch only when pressed, keeping the reader in control of how much arrives.
aliases:
  - name: show more button
    source: nngroup
  - name: load more button
    source: community
  - name: manual pagination
    source: community
tags:
  - navigation
  - perceived-performance
relations:
  contrastWith:
    - show-more-toggle
    - cursor-pagination
    - infinite-scroll
    - pull-to-refresh
  variantOf: []
  partOf: []
  seeAlso: []
implementations: []
sources:
  - title: "NN/g: Alternatives to Pagination on Product-Listing Pages"
    url: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/alternatives-pagination-listing-pages/
demo: inline
exhibit: false
useWhen: the next batch waits behind a button instead of arriving on its own
---

Load more sits between numbered pages and infinite scroll. Like infinite scroll it
appends rather than replaces, so the reader never loses the items they were
comparing. Unlike infinite scroll it waits to be asked, which is what keeps the
list finite: the page ends, the footer is reachable, and the reader can tell how
far they have come.

The button is only half the pattern. The other half is the count beside it,
because a batch that arrives without saying "24 of 312" leaves the reader with no
way to judge whether pressing again is worth it. Say how many are loaded and how
many exist, and change the button when there is nothing left rather than letting
it keep offering more of nothing.

Three details separate a good implementation from a frustrating one. Focus should
stay somewhere sensible after the batch lands, usually on the button itself, so a
keyboard reader is not thrown to the top. The button should say it is working
while the request is in flight, since a silent button invites a second press. And
the appended items should be announced, or at least be reachable, without a scroll
jump: the pattern's whole promise is that nothing the reader was already looking
at moves.

Reach for it when the list is browsed rather than searched, when the reader may
plausibly want everything, and when deep linking to page seven does not matter.
Where the reader is looking for one specific row and needs a stable address for
it, numbered pagination is still the better answer.