diff --git a/src/components/templates/CategoriesFilter.tsx b/src/components/templates/CategoriesFilter.tsx
index 14cf2508..6b7ad032 100644
--- a/src/components/templates/CategoriesFilter.tsx
+++ b/src/components/templates/CategoriesFilter.tsx
@@ -1,19 +1,36 @@
-import { MultiSelect } from "@mantine/core"
-import appConfig from "app.config"
+import { Loader, MultiSelect } from "@mantine/core"
+import { useState } from "react"
+import { useDebounce } from "use-debounce"
 import { useFilter } from "~/contexts/FilterContext"
 import { useSiteTranslation } from "~/hooks/useSiteTranslation"
+import { getEmptyCategoryGroups, getGroupForCategory } from "~/utils/categoryUtils"
+import { trpc } from "~/utils/trpc"
 
 export const CategoriesFilter = () => {
   const { t } = useSiteTranslation()
   const filter = useFilter()
+  const [prefix, setPrefix] = useState("")
+  const [prefixDebounced] = useDebounce(prefix, 500)
+  const { data, error, status } = trpc.categories.getCategories.useQuery({
+    language: filter.language,
+    prefix: prefixDebounced,
+  })
+
+  const groupsWithCategories = getEmptyCategoryGroups()
+  data?.categories.forEach((category) => {
+    const group = getGroupForCategory(category.key)
+    groupsWithCategories[group].push(category.key)
+  })
 
   return (
     <MultiSelect
       label={t("CategoriesFilter.inputLabel")}
       placeholder={t("CategoriesFilter.inputPlaceholder")}
+      searchValue={prefix}
+      onSearchChange={(value) => setPrefix(value)}
       value={filter.categories}
       onChange={(value) => filter.setCategories(value)}
-      data={Object.entries(appConfig.availableCategories).map(([group, categories]) => ({
+      data={Object.entries(groupsWithCategories).map(([group, categories]) => ({
         group: t(`categories.group.${group}`),
         items: categories.map((category) => ({
           value: category,
@@ -22,6 +39,8 @@ export const CategoriesFilter = () => {
       }))}
       searchable
       clearable
+      rightSection={status === "loading" ? <Loader size="xs" /> : null}
+      error={error?.message}
     />
   )
 }
diff --git a/src/server/routers/categories.ts b/src/server/routers/categories.ts
index 5416e5b0..64ea9c88 100644
--- a/src/server/routers/categories.ts
+++ b/src/server/routers/categories.ts
@@ -1,41 +1,22 @@
-import { Prisma } from "@prisma/client"
-import { paginate } from "~/utils/pagination"
 import { GetCategoriesSchema } from "~/validations/categories"
 import { prisma } from "../prisma"
 import { publicProcedure, router } from "../trpc"
 
 export const categoriesRouter = router({
   getCategories: publicProcedure.input(GetCategoriesSchema).query(async ({ input }) => {
-    const { language, filter, skip, take } = input
+    const { language, prefix } = input
 
-    const where: Prisma.CategoryWhereInput = {
-      templates: { some: { language } },
-      key: filter ? { contains: filter, mode: "insensitive" } : {},
-    }
-
-    const {
-      items: categories,
-      hasMore,
-      nextPage,
-      count,
-    } = await paginate({
-      skip,
-      take,
-      count: () => prisma.category.count({ where }),
-      query: (paginateArgs) =>
-        prisma.category.findMany({
-          ...paginateArgs,
-          where,
-          orderBy: { key: "asc" },
-          select: { key: true },
-        }),
+    const categories = await prisma.category.findMany({
+      where: {
+        templates: language ? { some: { language } } : {},
+        key: { startsWith: prefix },
+      },
+      orderBy: { key: "asc" },
+      select: { key: true },
     })
 
     return {
-      categories: categories.map((category) => category.key),
-      nextPage,
-      hasMore,
-      count,
+      categories,
     }
   }),
 })
diff --git a/src/server/routers/templates.ts b/src/server/routers/templates.ts
index f7797910..fcb5dc9b 100644
--- a/src/server/routers/templates.ts
+++ b/src/server/routers/templates.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { Prisma } from "@prisma/client"
 import {
   AUTHOR_ASC,
   AUTHOR_DESC,
@@ -14,7 +15,7 @@ export const templatesRouter = router({
   getTemplates: publicProcedure.input(GetTemplatesSchema).query(async ({ input }) => {
     const { categories, language, search, username, sorting, skip, take } = input
 
-    const where = {
+    const where: Prisma.TemplateWhereInput = {
       AND: categories.map((category) => ({
         categories: { some: { key: category } },
       })),
diff --git a/src/utils/categoryUtils.ts b/src/utils/categoryUtils.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bfcfaccc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils/categoryUtils.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+import appConfig from "app.config"
+
+const categoryToGroupMap: Record<string, string> = {}
+for (const [group, categories] of Object.entries(appConfig.availableCategories)) {
+  for (const category of categories) {
+    categoryToGroupMap[category] = group
+  }
+}
+
+export function getGroupForCategory(category: string): string {
+  return categoryToGroupMap[category]
+}
+
+const emptyCategoryGroups = Object.fromEntries(
+  Object.keys(appConfig.availableCategories).map((group) => [group, []])
+)
+
+export function getEmptyCategoryGroups(): Record<string, string[]> {
+  return JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(emptyCategoryGroups))
+}
diff --git a/src/validations/categories.ts b/src/validations/categories.ts
index 4e407c80..57e3ac92 100644
--- a/src/validations/categories.ts
+++ b/src/validations/categories.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import { z } from "zod"
-import { PaginationSchema } from "./common"
 
-export const GetCategoriesSchema = PaginationSchema.extend({
+export const GetCategoriesSchema = z.object({
   language: z.string(),
-  filter: z.string().optional(),
+  prefix: z.string(),
 })