Why is the page count slow? Shouldn't it be quick compared to the whole table count?

It's quicker if db-max-rows is set to a lower value. If it's not set or if it's big enough then it will take more time.

Maybe share EXPLAIN analyze output of these requests?

(These requests do not have db-max-rows set)

Without `limit=0`

curl 'localhost:3030/big_table' -H 'Prefer: count=exact' -I

EXPLAIN (FORMAT TEXT, ANALYZE, VERBOSE)
WITH pgrst_source AS
  (SELECT "public"."big_table".* FROM "public"."big_table") ,
 pgrst_source_count AS
  (SELECT 1 FROM "public"."big_table")
SELECT
  (SELECT pg_catalog.count(*) FROM pgrst_source_count) AS total_result_set,
  pg_catalog.count(_postgrest_t) AS page_total,
  ''::text AS body,
  nullif(current_setting('response.headers', TRUE), '') AS response_headers,
  nullif(current_setting('response.status', TRUE), '') AS response_status,
  '' AS response_inserted
FROM
  (SELECT * FROM pgrst_source) _postgrest_t

Aggregate  (cost=4562.01..4562.03 rows=1 width=144) (actual time=33.566..33.566 rows=1 loops=1)
  Output: (InitPlan 1).col1, count(ROW(big_table.id, big_table.name, big_table.val, big_table.num)), ''::text, NULLIF(current_setting('response.headers'::text, true), ''::text), NULLIF(current_setting('response.status'::text, true), ''::text), ''::text
  InitPlan 1
    ->  Aggregate  (cost=2281.00..2281.01 rows=1 width=8) (actual time=4.900..4.900 rows=1 loops=1)
          Output: count(*)
          ->  Seq Scan on public.big_table big_table_1  (cost=0.00..2031.00 rows=100000 width=0) (actual time=0.009..2.627 rows=100000 loops=1)
                Output: big_table_1.id, big_table_1.name, big_table_1.val, big_table_1.num
  ->  Seq Scan on public.big_table  (cost=0.00..2031.00 rows=100000 width=50) (actual time=0.009..7.667 rows=100000 loops=1)
        Output: big_table.id, big_table.name, big_table.val, big_table.num
Planning Time: 0.151 ms
Execution Time: 33.598 ms

With `limit=0`

curl 'localhost:3030/big_table?limit=0' -H 'Prefer: count=exact' -I

EXPLAIN (FORMAT TEXT, ANALYZE, VERBOSE)
WITH pgrst_source AS
  (SELECT "public"."big_table".* FROM "public"."big_table" LIMIT 0 OFFSET 0) ,
 pgrst_source_count AS
  (SELECT 1 FROM "public"."big_table")
SELECT
  (SELECT pg_catalog.count(*) FROM pgrst_source_count) AS total_result_set,
  pg_catalog.count(_postgrest_t) AS page_total,
  ''::text AS body,
  nullif(current_setting('response.headers', TRUE), '') AS response_headers,
  nullif(current_setting('response.status', TRUE), '') AS response_status,
  '' AS response_inserted
FROM
  (SELECT * FROM pgrst_source) _postgrest_t

Aggregate  (cost=2281.03..2281.05 rows=1 width=144) (actual time=17.579..17.580 rows=1 loops=1)
  Output: (InitPlan 1).col1, count(ROW(big_table.id, big_table.name, big_table.val, big_table.num)), ''::text, NULLIF(current_setting('response.headers'::text, true), ''::text), NULLIF(current_setting('response.status'::text, true), ''::text), ''::text
  InitPlan 1
    ->  Aggregate  (cost=2281.00..2281.01 rows=1 width=8) (actual time=17.566..17.566 rows=1 loops=1)
          Output: count(*)
          ->  Seq Scan on public.big_table big_table_1  (cost=0.00..2031.00 rows=100000 width=0) (actual time=0.015..9.224 rows=100000 loops=1)
                Output: big_table_1.id, big_table_1.name, big_table_1.val, big_table_1.num
  ->  Limit  (cost=0.00..0.02 rows=1 width=50) (actual time=0.001..0.002 rows=0 loops=1)
        Output: big_table.id, big_table.name, big_table.val, big_table.num
        ->  Seq Scan on public.big_table  (cost=0.00..2031.00 rows=100000 width=50) (never executed)
              Output: big_table.id, big_table.name, big_table.val, big_table.num
Planning Time: 0.289 ms
Execution Time: 17.657 ms

Originally posted by @laurenceisla in #2849

See possible solution on #2849 (comment)