diff --git a/docs/module/crud.md b/docs/module/crud.md
index c62ddcd..15bc7c8 100644
--- a/docs/module/crud.md
+++ b/docs/module/crud.md
@@ -255,7 +255,7 @@ The cursor column is set once on [`CrudFactory`](../reference/crud.md#fastapi_to
 !!! note
     `cursor_column` is required. Calling [`cursor_paginate`](../reference/crud.md#fastapi_toolsets.crud.factory.AsyncCrud.cursor_paginate) on a CRUD class that has no `cursor_column` configured raises a `ValueError`.
 
-The cursor value is base64-encoded when returned to the client and decoded back to the correct Python type on the next request. The following SQLAlchemy column types are supported:
+The cursor value is URL-safe base64-encoded (no padding) when returned to the client and decoded back to the correct Python type on the next request. The following SQLAlchemy column types are supported:
 
 | SQLAlchemy type | Python type |
 |---|---|
diff --git a/src/fastapi_toolsets/crud/factory.py b/src/fastapi_toolsets/crud/factory.py
index dd571b0..fdeced0 100644
--- a/src/fastapi_toolsets/crud/factory.py
+++ b/src/fastapi_toolsets/crud/factory.py
@@ -58,15 +58,20 @@ class _CursorDirection(str, Enum):
 def _encode_cursor(
     value: Any, *, direction: _CursorDirection = _CursorDirection.NEXT
 ) -> str:
-    """Encode a cursor column value and navigation direction as a base64 string."""
-    return base64.b64encode(
-        json.dumps({"val": str(value), "dir": direction}).encode()
-    ).decode()
+    """Encode a cursor column value and navigation direction as a URL-safe base64 string."""
+    return (
+        base64.urlsafe_b64encode(
+            json.dumps({"val": str(value), "dir": direction}).encode()
+        )
+        .decode()
+        .rstrip("=")
+    )
 
 
 def _decode_cursor(cursor: str) -> tuple[str, _CursorDirection]:
-    """Decode a cursor base64 string into ``(raw_value, direction)``."""
-    payload = json.loads(base64.b64decode(cursor.encode()).decode())
+    """Decode a URL-safe base64 cursor string into ``(raw_value, direction)``."""
+    padded = cursor + "=" * (-len(cursor) % 4)
+    payload = json.loads(base64.urlsafe_b64decode(padded).decode())
     return payload["val"], _CursorDirection(payload["dir"])