What is the purpose of tags in AWS?

Tags in AWS serve primarily to attach labels to resources, facilitating management and cost allocation. They consist of key-value pairs that allow organizations to categorize and organize their AWS resources according to various criteria such as departments, environments, project names, or owners. This tagging system helps in identifying and tracking costs associated with specific resources, making it easier for organizations to allocate budgets effectively and optimize their spending.

Moreover, tags can also assist in resource management by allowing for easier filtering, searching, and automation of tasks related to those resources within the AWS ecosystem. For example, a company might tag resources deployed for a specific project, allowing teams to easily report on usage and costs related to that project.

While security, backups, and performance monitoring are important aspects of managing cloud resources, those functions do not directly relate to the purpose of tags within the AWS framework. Tags are purely for organization, tracking, and billing efficiency, which is why the selected answer accurately reflects their primary purpose.