diff --git a/awx/api/pagination.py b/awx/api/pagination.py
index 95f7b585b4..156a6c5ab1 100644
--- a/awx/api/pagination.py
+++ b/awx/api/pagination.py
@@ -6,12 +6,15 @@ from collections import OrderedDict
 # Django REST Framework
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.core.paginator import Paginator as DjangoPaginator
+from django.utils.functional import cached_property
 from rest_framework import pagination
 from rest_framework.response import Response
 from rest_framework.utils.urls import replace_query_param
 from rest_framework.settings import api_settings
 from django.utils.translation import gettext_lazy as _
 
+from awx.main.models import ActivityStream
+
 
 class DisabledPaginator(DjangoPaginator):
     @property
@@ -23,6 +26,19 @@ class DisabledPaginator(DjangoPaginator):
         return 200
 
 
+class ActivityStreamPaginator(DjangoPaginator):
+    """Use unfiltered table count for activity stream pagination (AAP-83773).
+
+    The RBAC-filtered COUNT query takes ~36 min on large tables due to the
+    pk__in subquery shape from AAP-81860.  An unfiltered count is acceptable
+    for pagination UI -- an approximate over-count is harmless.
+    """
+
+    @cached_property
+    def count(self):
+        return ActivityStream.objects.count()
+
+
 class Pagination(pagination.PageNumberPagination):
     page_size_query_param = 'page_size'
     max_page_size = settings.MAX_PAGE_SIZE
@@ -57,12 +73,13 @@ class Pagination(pagination.PageNumberPagination):
 
     def paginate_queryset(self, queryset, request, **kwargs):
         self.count_disabled = 'count_disabled' in request.query_params
+        original_paginator = self.django_paginator_class
         try:
             if self.count_disabled:
                 self.django_paginator_class = DisabledPaginator
             return super(Pagination, self).paginate_queryset(queryset, request, **kwargs)
         finally:
-            self.django_paginator_class = DjangoPaginator
+            self.django_paginator_class = original_paginator
 
     def get_paginated_response(self, data):
         if self.count_disabled:
@@ -70,6 +87,10 @@ class Pagination(pagination.PageNumberPagination):
         return super(Pagination, self).get_paginated_response(data)
 
 
+class ActivityStreamPagination(Pagination):
+    django_paginator_class = ActivityStreamPaginator
+
+
 class LimitPagination(pagination.BasePagination):
     default_limit = api_settings.PAGE_SIZE
     limit_query_param = 'limit'
diff --git a/awx/api/views/__init__.py b/awx/api/views/__init__.py
index 47b6288959..85d3ae9d00 100644
--- a/awx/api/views/__init__.py
+++ b/awx/api/views/__init__.py
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ from awx.api.views.mixin import (
     NoTruncateMixin,
     UnifiedJobExcludeMixin,
 )
-from awx.api.pagination import UnifiedJobEventPagination
+from awx.api.pagination import ActivityStreamPagination, UnifiedJobEventPagination
 from awx.main.utils import set_environ
 
 logger = logging.getLogger('awx.api.views')
@@ -4818,6 +4818,7 @@ class ActivityStreamList(SimpleListAPIView):
     model = models.ActivityStream
     serializer_class = serializers.ActivityStreamSerializer
     search_fields = ('changes',)
+    pagination_class = ActivityStreamPagination
     resource_purpose = 'audit trail entries for tracking system changes'
 
     @extend_schema_if_available(
diff --git a/awx/main/tests/functional/api/test_activity_streams.py b/awx/main/tests/functional/api/test_activity_streams.py
index e66276b3cb..2d35373a34 100644
--- a/awx/main/tests/functional/api/test_activity_streams.py
+++ b/awx/main/tests/functional/api/test_activity_streams.py
@@ -139,6 +139,29 @@ def test_stream_queryset_hides_shows_items(
     assert access.can_read(activity_stream_entry)
 
 
+@pytest.mark.django_db
+def test_activity_stream_pagination_uses_unfiltered_count(get, organization, project, user, settings):
+    """The pagination count should reflect total activity stream rows, not
+    the RBAC-filtered subset.  The RBAC-filtered COUNT is catastrophically
+    slow on large tables (AAP-83773); an approximate over-count from an
+    unfiltered SELECT COUNT(*) is acceptable for pagination UI."""
+    settings.ACTIVITY_STREAM_ENABLED = True
+
+    no_access_user = user('no-access-user', False)
+
+    total_entries = ActivityStream.objects.count()
+    assert total_entries > 0
+
+    url = reverse('api:activity_stream_list')
+    response = get(url, no_access_user)
+
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    visible_results = len(response.data['results'])
+    pagination_count = response.data['count']
+    assert pagination_count == total_entries
+    assert visible_results < pagination_count
+
+
 @pytest.mark.django_db
 def test_stream_user_direct_role_updates(get, post, organization_factory):
     objects = organization_factory('test_org', superusers=['admin'], users=['test'], inventories=['inv1'])
diff --git a/awx/main/tests/unit/api/test_pagination.py b/awx/main/tests/unit/api/test_pagination.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..978c9e60df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/awx/main/tests/unit/api/test_pagination.py
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
+
+from awx.api.pagination import ActivityStreamPaginator, ActivityStreamPagination, DisabledPaginator
+
+
+class TestActivityStreamPaginator:
+    def test_count_uses_unfiltered_table_count(self):
+        with patch('awx.api.pagination.ActivityStream') as mock_as:
+            mock_as.objects.count.return_value = 713000
+            paginator = ActivityStreamPaginator(object_list=[], per_page=25)
+            assert paginator.count == 713000
+            mock_as.objects.count.assert_called_once()
+
+    def test_count_is_cached(self):
+        with patch('awx.api.pagination.ActivityStream') as mock_as:
+            mock_as.objects.count.return_value = 500
+            paginator = ActivityStreamPaginator(object_list=[], per_page=25)
+            _ = paginator.count
+            _ = paginator.count
+            mock_as.objects.count.assert_called_once()
+
+
+class TestActivityStreamPagination:
+    def test_default_paginator_class(self):
+        pagination = ActivityStreamPagination()
+        assert pagination.django_paginator_class is ActivityStreamPaginator
+
+    def test_normal_request_preserves_activity_stream_paginator(self):
+        pagination = ActivityStreamPagination()
+        request = MagicMock()
+        request.query_params = {}
+
+        with patch('rest_framework.pagination.PageNumberPagination.paginate_queryset', return_value=[]):
+            pagination.paginate_queryset(MagicMock(), request)
+
+        assert pagination.count_disabled is False
+        assert pagination.django_paginator_class is ActivityStreamPaginator
+
+    def test_count_disabled_restores_activity_stream_paginator(self):
+        pagination = ActivityStreamPagination()
+        request = MagicMock()
+        request.query_params = {'count_disabled': 'true'}
+
+        with patch('rest_framework.pagination.PageNumberPagination.paginate_queryset', return_value=[]):
+            pagination.paginate_queryset(MagicMock(), request)
+
+        assert pagination.count_disabled is True
+        assert pagination.django_paginator_class is ActivityStreamPaginator
+
+    def test_count_disabled_temporarily_uses_disabled_paginator(self):
+        pagination = ActivityStreamPagination()
+        request = MagicMock()
+        request.query_params = {'count_disabled': 'true'}
+        captured_class = {}
+
+        def capture_paginator_class(self_inner, queryset, request, **kwargs):
+            captured_class['during'] = pagination.django_paginator_class
+
+        with patch('rest_framework.pagination.PageNumberPagination.paginate_queryset', capture_paginator_class):
+            pagination.paginate_queryset(MagicMock(), request)
+
+        assert captured_class['during'] is DisabledPaginator
+        assert pagination.django_paginator_class is ActivityStreamPaginator