diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d5fb3933..c37183a5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@
 - Chg #109: Deprecate `Logger` methods `setTraceLevel()` and `setExcludedTracePaths()` in favor of context provider
   usage (@vjik)
 - New #111: Add `DateTime` and `DateTimeImmutable` support as time in log context (@vjik)
+- New #112: Add `Message::category()` method and `Message::DEFAULT_CATEGORY` constant, deprecate
+  `CategoryFilter::DEFAULT` in favor it (@vjik)
 
 ## 2.0.0 May 22, 2022
 
diff --git a/src/ContextProvider/ContextProvider.php b/src/ContextProvider/ContextProvider.php
index 8fc3b59c..b6f43dec 100644
--- a/src/ContextProvider/ContextProvider.php
+++ b/src/ContextProvider/ContextProvider.php
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 namespace Yiisoft\Log\ContextProvider;
 
 use InvalidArgumentException;
-use Yiisoft\Log\Message\CategoryFilter;
+use Yiisoft\Log\Message;
 
 /**
  * @psalm-type Backtrace = list<array{
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ public function getContext(): array
             'time' => microtime(true),
             'trace' => $this->collectTrace($trace),
             'memory' => memory_get_usage(),
-            'category' => CategoryFilter::DEFAULT,
+            'category' => Message::DEFAULT_CATEGORY,
         ];
     }
 
diff --git a/src/Message.php b/src/Message.php
index 519aed24..5d673700 100644
--- a/src/Message.php
+++ b/src/Message.php
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 namespace Yiisoft\Log;
 
+use LogicException;
 use Psr\Log\InvalidArgumentException;
 use Psr\Log\LoggerTrait;
 use Psr\Log\LogLevel;
@@ -18,6 +19,8 @@
  */
 final class Message
 {
+    public const DEFAULT_CATEGORY = 'application';
+
     /**
      * @var string Log message level.
      *
@@ -99,6 +102,22 @@ public function context(string $name = null, mixed $default = null): mixed
         return $this->context[$name] ?? $default;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Returns the log message category. {@see self::DEFAULT_CATEGORY} is returned if the category is not set.
+     *
+     * @return string The log message category.
+     */
+    public function category(): string
+    {
+        $category = $this->context['category'] ?? self::DEFAULT_CATEGORY;
+        if (!is_string($category)) {
+            throw new LogicException(
+                'Invalid category value in log context. Expected "string", got "' . get_debug_type($category) . '".'
+            );
+        }
+        return $category;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Parses log message resolving placeholders in the form: "{foo}",
      * where foo will be replaced by the context data in key "foo".
diff --git a/src/Message/CategoryFilter.php b/src/Message/CategoryFilter.php
index 5b38d3a0..22e77795 100644
--- a/src/Message/CategoryFilter.php
+++ b/src/Message/CategoryFilter.php
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 
 use InvalidArgumentException;
 
+use Yiisoft\Log\Message;
+
 use function gettype;
 use function is_string;
 use function rtrim;
@@ -18,6 +20,9 @@
  */
 final class CategoryFilter
 {
+    /**
+     * @deprecated Since 2.1, will be removed in 3.0. Use {@see Message::DEFAULT_CATEGORY} instead.
+     */
     public const DEFAULT = 'application';
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/Message/Formatter.php b/src/Message/Formatter.php
index f54685e7..da43c1ef 100644
--- a/src/Message/Formatter.php
+++ b/src/Message/Formatter.php
@@ -127,10 +127,8 @@ private function defaultFormat(Message $message, array $commonContext): string
         $time = $this->getTime($message);
         $prefix = $this->getPrefix($message, $commonContext);
         $context = $this->getContext($message, $commonContext);
-        /** @var string $category */
-        $category = $message->context('category', CategoryFilter::DEFAULT);
 
-        return "{$time} {$prefix}[{$message->level()}][{$category}] {$message->message()}{$context}";
+        return "{$time} {$prefix}[{$message->level()}][{$message->category()}] {$message->message()}{$context}";
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/Target.php b/src/Target.php
index 792caffc..d2cb7d72 100644
--- a/src/Target.php
+++ b/src/Target.php
@@ -384,10 +384,7 @@ private function filterMessages(array $messages): void
                 continue;
             }
 
-            /** @var string $category */
-            $category = $message->context('category', '');
-
-            if ($this->categories->isExcluded($category)) {
+            if ($this->categories->isExcluded($message->category())) {
                 unset($messages[$i]);
                 continue;
             }
diff --git a/tests/MessageTest.php b/tests/MessageTest.php
index 064f16b6..6751133f 100644
--- a/tests/MessageTest.php
+++ b/tests/MessageTest.php
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 namespace Yiisoft\Log\Tests;
 
+use LogicException;
 use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
 use Psr\Log\InvalidArgumentException;
 use Psr\Log\LogLevel;
@@ -167,4 +168,31 @@ public function testParseMessage(string $message, array $context, string $expect
         $message = new Message(LogLevel::INFO, $message, $context);
         $this->assertSame($expected, $message->message());
     }
+
+    public static function dataCategory(): array
+    {
+        return [
+            'without-category' => [Message::DEFAULT_CATEGORY, []],
+            'null-category' => [Message::DEFAULT_CATEGORY, ['category' => null]],
+            'with-category' => ['test', ['category' => 'test']],
+        ];
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider dataCategory
+     */
+    public function testCategory(string $expected, array $context): void
+    {
+        $message = new Message(LogLevel::INFO, 'message', $context);
+        $this->assertSame($expected, $message->category());
+    }
+
+    public function testInvalidCategoryType(): void
+    {
+        $message = new Message(LogLevel::INFO, 'message', ['category' => 23.1]);
+
+        $this->expectException(LogicException::class);
+        $this->expectExceptionMessage('Invalid category value in log context. Expected "string", got "float".');
+        $message->category();
+    }
 }