Card sorting
See where people expect things to live
People sort your content into groups that make sense to them, so your navigation follows how they think, not your org chart.Paste your URL and Fiuto builds a free card sort for you in minutes. No experience required.
A preview player for the card sort. It steps through the four blocks a respondent sees, and is paused on the third: the card sort itself, with the Fiuto panel floating over the board holding the task as they group cards into columns.
What is card sorting?
Card sorting is a research method for learning how people group and label information. Each participant gets a set of items as cards and places related ones together, so you see the categories they expect rather than the ones you assumed.
In an open sort, people make their own groups and name them, which is how you discover the language your audience uses. In a closed sort, you provide the categories and people file the cards into them, which checks whether a structure you have in mind holds up.
The result is a map of which items belong together, how strongly, and what people call each group. That map is the raw material for a navigation, a settings page, or a help centre that matches how people think.
When to run oneRun one while the structure is still negotiable, before you have settled on a navigation to test.
Is card sorting the right method?
It is worth two minutes to check card sorting is the method you want.
Reach for it when
Planning a new navigation or settings area
Reorganising a content library, product catalogue, or help centre
Naming categories in words your audience recognises
Checking whether features match the groups inside your product
Reach for something else when
You already have a candidate navigation and want to know whether people can find things in it. A tree test is the check.
You need to know whether people can complete a task in the finished interface, not just where they would expect it to live.
Card sorting tips
Put one idea on each card
Use a short noun or noun phrase, and split compound ideas so the result measures the structure rather than the ambiguity.
Keep category clues off the cards
A label should describe the item, not whisper where you want it placed.
Pilot before you launch
Watch for duplicate, vague, or overly broad cards, and keep the set focused enough that people sort thoughtfully.
Frequently asked questions
01What is card sorting?
Card sorting is a research method that asks people to group a set of items in ways that make sense to them. It helps teams design information architecture, navigation, categories, and labels around how users think.
02What is the difference between open and closed card sorting?
In an open card sort, respondents create and name their own groups. In a closed card sort, you provide the categories and respondents place each card into one of them. Open sorts help discover a structure. Closed sorts help test one.
03When should I use a card sort instead of a tree test?
Use a card sort when you are still deciding how items should be grouped and labelled. Use a tree test when you already have a proposed navigation and want to know whether people can find specific things in it.
04How many cards should I include in a card sort?
Use enough cards to represent the structure you need to decide, but keep the set focused enough that people can sort thoughtfully. Pilot the study first, remove ambiguous or duplicate cards, and split an oversized domain into separate studies.
05Can Fiuto run open and closed card sorts?
Yes. Leave categories empty for an open sort, or add categories for a closed sort.
06What do card-sort results show in Fiuto?
For each card, Fiuto shows the most common category, the percentage of respondents who chose it, and the other categories people used.
07Do I need a finished design to run a card sort?
No. Card sorting works with labels, so it is useful before you design the navigation or hierarchy. If you already have a structure and want to test findability, use a tree test.
08Do AI respondents go through the study before real people?
Yes, on every plan including Free. Up to five AI respondents work through the study first so you get a read in minutes and catch an unclear task early, and up to two of them can be AI experts in conversion, usability, copy or SEO. Then real people answer the same study, recruited from Prolific's global panel or reached through your own link.
09Can I create and launch this study from my coding agent?
Yes. Fiuto's research assistant works in the app, over MCP from Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Lovable, v0, Replit and Bolt, and over the API. It creates, launches and reads back the study on every plan including Free.
10Does Fiuto run AI interviews?
AI interviews are an upcoming feature, in development now, and this page will list them the day they are out of alpha. Until then Fiuto runs unmoderated studies across 18 methods, with AI respondents first and real people after.