Organize Service Categories and Subcategories

Service categories organise offerings without changing what customers buy. Yepsta supports a main Category and an optional Subcategory beneath it.

Understand the hierarchy

• Category: the broadest customer-facing classification, such as Beauty or Consultation.
• Subcategory: an optional second level inside one category, such as Hair or Tax Consultation.
• Service Group: not a category. It is a non-bookable parent for service variants and is created under Services.
• Service or Variant: the actual bookable and billable offering.

A service may remain Uncategorized, and a category can be used without a subcategory. Use categories when they make selection and reporting clearer; do not add empty levels.

Permission required

Owners have access. Managers and staff need Service Categories permission. Create, edit, show/hide and delete actions use service-maintenance access and require an active subscription.

Where to find it

Open Catalog & Inventory → Service Categories.

Create a category structure

Create categories and optional subcategories

1. Select Add Main Category.
2. Enter a concise name and optional description, image, icon or colour.
3. Set Sort Order when the display order matters.
4. Keep Active enabled and save the category.
5. Select the main category and choose Add Subcategory when a second level is useful.
6. Enter the subcategory details and save.
7. Repeat only for customer-meaningful classifications.

Show, hide, edit or delete

Hide changes a category to inactive without removing it. Use Edit to correct its name, description, visual details or sort order.

Yepsta blocks deletion when:

• a main category still contains subcategories; or
• the category or subcategory is linked to services.

Move or update those services first. Hiding is safer than restructuring a category already used for customer discovery or reports.

Important information

Category and Subcategory describe where an offering appears. Group, Service and Variant describe what can be sold or booked. Do not use a group as a replacement for taxonomy.

Troubleshooting

• If Add Subcategory is unavailable, create or select a main category first.
• If deletion is blocked, review the subcategory and linked-service counters.
• If a subcategory is unavailable while creating a service, select its main category first.
• If the screen is missing, ask the owner to check Service Categories access.

Related guides

• Create Services, Groups, and Variants
• Assign Services to Staff
• Create Multi-service Appointments and Allocate Staff
• Quick Start Guide

Last reviewed: 12 July 2026