---
title: "Why Can Adding a Database Index Make Inserts Slower?"  
description: "Why Can Adding a Database Index Make Inserts Slower?"  
author: "Ruslan Galiev"  
published: 2026-10-15  
canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/117620/why-can-adding-a-database-index-make-inserts-slower  
category: "Mix Category"  
tags: ["SQL", "Databases", "performance"]  
reading_time: 1 minute  

---

# Why Can Adding a Database Index Make Inserts Slower?

I added an index to speed up a query that filters on a frequently used column. Reads improved, but inserting rows into the same table now takes longer than before. I expected the index to help the database find data faster, so I’m trying to understand the trade-off.

How much of the slowdown comes from **database index maintenance**, and are there cases where an index can hurt write performance enough that it should be removed?


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Original Source: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/117620/why-can-adding-a-database-index-make-inserts-slower

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