A filter range based search control to request a range of data from one or more directory servers. A directory server receives a search request from a client application comprising a search filter control defining a set of requested data, a sort control defining a sorting order of the set of requested data, and a range filter control defining a range of entries in the requested data. Data entries matching a search value defined in the search filter control and sorted according to sort attributes defined in the sort control are obtained from a set of directories associated with the directory server to form a sorted list of matching entries. A subset of data entries in the sorted list that match a range value defined in the range filter control are collected, and a response comprising the collected subset of data entries is then sent to the client application.