How-to
ClickUp Task Priorities: Urgent, High, Normal and Low
How ClickUp priorities work, how to turn the ClickApp on, and a practical way to use Urgent, High, Normal, and Low without flagging everything.
By AIStackMatch Editorial · Updated · 6 min read
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Short answer
ClickUp priorities are four flags: Urgent, High, Normal, and Low. The Priorities ClickApp is on every plan, and you cannot rename the labels or change the colors. Your team decides what each flag means. Sort and filter by priority in List view, and group by priority in List and Board view.
ClickUp priorities are a flag on a task, not a workflow. There are four: Urgent, High, Normal, and Low. ClickUp does not let you rename them or change their colors. What they mean is your decision. A flag only helps if the team uses the same definition and leaves most tasks off Urgent.
If everything is Urgent, the flag is decoration. The rest of this page is how to turn the feature on, where the flag appears, and a definition you can adopt without pretending ClickUp invented it. Setup context is in how to use ClickUp. The ClickUp hub links views and pricing.
What are ClickUp priorities?
ClickUp Help's article on setting task priorities lists the four levels and states two limits: you define the meaning, and you cannot customize the labels or the colors.
The feature is a ClickApp. It is available on all plans, including Free Forever. A Workspace owner or admin turns it on. Help says everyone, including guests with edit or full permissions, can then edit priorities.
You can limit the ClickApp to specific Spaces. That is useful when one Space is a personal list and another is client delivery. You do not have to show the flag everywhere on day one. Is ClickUp too complicated is the case for leaving ClickApps off until a List needs them.
From the priority field you can also see and add the task to your Personal Priorities. Help names that action and does not describe a separate priority scale for it. Treat Personal Priorities as your own short list, not as a fifth flag the team shares.
How do you turn priorities on and set a flag?
An owner or admin activates the ClickApp:
- Open the App Center.
- In the left sidebar, click All ClickApps.
- Search for Priorities.
- Turn the toggle on.
- Use the dropdown if it should apply only to some Spaces.
After that, the flag shows up in three places Help lists:
| Where you are | How you set it |
|---|---|
| Task | Click the flag icon on the upper left of the task |
| List view | Click the flag icon to the right of the task |
| Board view | Click the flag on the lower left of the card. If the task has no priority, hover the card to reveal the flag |
A task can have no priority. That empty state is useful. "No flag" can mean "not sorted yet," which is more honest than marking everything Normal so the column looks full.
Once priorities are on, List view can sort and filter by them. List view and Board view can group by priority: open Group by and choose Priority. A Board grouped by priority is four columns of importance, which is a different board from the one grouped by status. Do not replace your status board with it. Open it when you are choosing what to do next, then go back to status for the work in motion.
Help also says you can ask ClickUp Brain AI to determine priorities from prompts you provide. Brain is not part of Free Forever's task flags. In our tool data, AI is a separate add-on starting at $9 per user/month. The four labels stay fixed either way. Read ClickUp AI before you treat an AI suggestion as the team's rule.
How should a team use Urgent, High, Normal, and Low?
ClickUp does not publish official definitions. The table below is a convention that keeps Urgent rare. Change the words if your team already has better ones. Do not change the idea that the top flag is scarce.
| Flag | A workable meaning | How many tasks |
|---|---|---|
| Urgent | Someone is blocked, or a date breaks today if this waits | A handful. If the column is long, the word is wrong |
| High | This week, and it should beat Normal work | The real queue for the week |
| Normal | Scheduled, not on fire | Most dated work |
| Low | Do it when High is clear | Backlog you are willing to drop |
| No flag | Not triaged | Fine for a capture List. Not fine for work you have already promised |
Write the definitions in a Doc the team can open, next to the List. ClickUp Docs are on every plan. A sentence in a chat message will drift.
A few habits keep the flags honest:
- Set priority when you assign the task, not in a separate meeting about priorities.
- Re-flag on a schedule you already have, such as Monday planning. Stale Urgent flags train people to ignore the color.
- Do not use priority as a due date. A Low task due tomorrow is still due tomorrow. The calendar and the flag answer different questions.
- Do not use priority as a status. Urgent work can sit in Not started. In review work can be Low. ClickUp custom statuses are the workflow. The flag is importance.
- Subtasks have their own priority. A parent can be High while one subtask is Urgent. If you only look at the parent, you will miss it. Show subtasks as separate tasks when you filter. That display rule is in ClickUp subtasks vs checklists.
Sprint teams sometimes want a number as well as a flag. Sprint points are a different field. ClickUp sprints covers points. Do not overload Urgent to mean "8 points."
What should you do when four flags are not enough?
Some teams want a score, a client tier, or a "must ship this release" label. The built-in flags will not grow a fifth color. Help is explicit that labels and colors are fixed.
Use a custom field for the extra scale, and keep the flag for day-to-day importance. ClickUp custom fields include Dropdown, Number, and a Voting field that can show on List, Board, Table, Timeline, or Workload. Free Forever includes 60 custom field uses, counted when you set a value. Unlimited and above include unlimited uses. A Dropdown named "Client tier" does not replace Urgent. It answers who the work is for. The flag answers when it should jump the queue.
People who want a personal task list with simpler priorities sometimes prefer Todoist. The comparison is ClickUp vs Todoist. Todoist is the better daily list if you do not need docs, guest sharing, and several views. ClickUp is the better home if the flag has to sit on the same task as the client, the date, and the status. Our Todoist data describes a free Beginner plan with paid Pro and Business plans above it.
Dashboards can sit on top of a List you already trust. They will not fix a List where every card is red. Start with ClickUp dashboards after the flags mean something.
A short setup for a new Space
- Turn Priorities on for that Space only, if the rest of the Workspace is not ready.
- Paste the four definitions into a Doc and link the Doc from the List description.
- Leave new tasks unflagged until someone accepts them.
- Group the Board by status for daily work. Group a second view by priority for the weekly sort.
- Review Urgent every day you plan. If the list is long, move items to High in the same sitting.
Prices if you are choosing a plan around this: Free Forever is $0 and includes the Priorities ClickApp. Unlimited is $7 per user/month billed annually ($10 monthly). Business is $12 billed annually ($19 monthly). The AI add-on that can suggest flags starts at $9 per user/month. Prices were checked in October 2026. Plan detail is in ClickUp pricing.
The flags are ready as soon as an admin enables the ClickApp. The habit takes longer. Pick a meaning, keep Urgent small, and use status for everything else.
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Frequently asked questions
What are the ClickUp priority levels?
Urgent, High, Normal, and Low. ClickUp Help says you cannot customize the labels or the colors. The meaning of each flag is up to your team.
Are ClickUp priorities on the free plan?
Yes. The Priorities ClickApp is available on all plans. A Workspace owner or admin has to turn it on. Guests with edit or full permissions can then set priorities.
Can you sort tasks by priority in ClickUp?
Yes. In List view you can sort and filter by priority. In List and Board view you can group by priority from the Group by menu.
Is ClickUp priority the same as status?
No. Priority is how important the task is. Status is where it sits in the workflow, such as In progress or In review. A task can be Urgent and still not started.
Can ClickUp AI set task priority?
ClickUp Help says you can use ClickUp Brain AI to determine priorities from prompts you provide. AI is a separate add-on, from $9 per user/month in our tool data. The four flags still cannot be renamed.