diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/esql/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/expression/function/grouping/Categorize.java b/x-pack/plugin/esql/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/expression/function/grouping/Categorize.java
index 4d80e7dd04359..721f1e7055518 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/esql/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/expression/function/grouping/Categorize.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/esql/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/expression/function/grouping/Categorize.java
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput;
 import org.elasticsearch.compute.operator.EvalOperator.ExpressionEvaluator;
+import org.elasticsearch.license.XPackLicenseState;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.LicenseAware;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.core.expression.Expression;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.core.expression.Nullability;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.core.tree.NodeInfo;
@@ -21,6 +23,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.expression.function.FunctionType;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.expression.function.Param;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.io.stream.PlanStreamInput;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.MachineLearning;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -37,7 +40,7 @@
  *     For the implementation, see {@link org.elasticsearch.compute.aggregation.blockhash.CategorizeBlockHash}
  * </p>
  */
-public class Categorize extends GroupingFunction {
+public class Categorize extends GroupingFunction implements LicenseAware {
     public static final NamedWriteableRegistry.Entry ENTRY = new NamedWriteableRegistry.Entry(
         Expression.class,
         "Categorize",
@@ -134,4 +137,9 @@ public Expression field() {
     public String toString() {
         return "Categorize{field=" + field + "}";
     }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean licenseCheck(XPackLicenseState state) {
+        return MachineLearning.CATEGORIZE_TEXT_AGG_FEATURE.check(state);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/MachineLearning.java b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/MachineLearning.java
index d6017cb417d71..293bdf8530444 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/MachineLearning.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/MachineLearning.java
@@ -526,7 +526,7 @@ public class MachineLearning extends Plugin
         License.OperationMode.PLATINUM
     );
 
-    private static final LicensedFeature.Momentary CATEGORIZE_TEXT_AGG_FEATURE = LicensedFeature.momentary(
+    public static final LicensedFeature.Momentary CATEGORIZE_TEXT_AGG_FEATURE = LicensedFeature.momentary(
         MachineLearningField.ML_FEATURE_FAMILY,
         "categorize-text-agg",
         License.OperationMode.PLATINUM