Both tags and categories group posts, but they behave differently.
Categories
- Each post belongs to exactly one category.
- Categories are part of the board's structure (sidebar / filter).
- Categories often map to product areas: Mobile, Web, API, Billing.
- Customers see categories prominently and use them to find what's relevant to them.
Use categories when you have a small, stable, mutually-exclusive set of buckets.
- Each post can have many tags.
- Tags are looser, cross-cutting labels:
enterprise, bug, quick-win, Q2-2026.
- Tags can be admin-only (hidden from end users) for internal triage.
- Tags are great for filters, automations, and reporting without forcing customers to think about them.
Use tags when you want to label posts on multiple dimensions or when labels are for internal use.
A common pattern
- Categories: product area (Mobile, Web, API).
- Tags: priority signals (enterprise, urgent, quick-win), source (support, sales), or campaign labels.
- Trello has Labels → maps to Tags.
- Jira has Components → maps to Categories. Jira Labels → Tags.
- Canny has Tags → maps to Tags. Boards → maps to Categories or separate boards.
- UserVoice has Forums → Boards/Categories. Labels → Tags.
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