Tool vs. Feature: What’s the Difference?

Read any product marketing ad, datasheet, web copy or other deliverable, and you’ll see the word “feature” multiple times. Phrases such as “feature-rich” and “feature-packed” imply that the product offers a complete or innovative solution that is better than other available solutions with fewer features. “Tool” on the other hand, is often used interchangeably with “platform” or “solution,” to denote an individual, encapsulated “thing” that can be used to perform a specific action or set of actions.

At Directus, we beg to differ. In fact, we think it’s the other way around.

Think of a carpenter’s toolbelt. What’s in it? A hammer, screwdriver, pliers, untility knife, measuring tape and other tools that the contractor needs to use frequently. That way, they’re prepared for nearly any job required – without having to return back to the truck to carry something back to the jobsite.

A hammer is used primarily to drive nails into wood, and a knife is mostly used to cut material. However, hammers can be used for things other than pounding nails into wood – they can help pry nails out of wood, nudge boards into place or break up certain materials. A knife can be used to open packages or pry glue off of a surface. You get the picture: tools provide basic functions that are applicable across many scenarios.

Using the same analogy, let’s consider what a feature might be. A feature of the toolbelt may be the number of pockets or the desired material. It may have an adjustable buckle or a pouch for your cell phone. A feature of the hammer might be a longer handle, and the knife might have a clip so you can hang it on a jean pocket. While these features are useful, they don’t really help you build anything – the tools themselves do.

Directus has a lot of amazing features. It can be self-hosted or deployed in the cloud. It works with any SQL database and delivers blazing fast response times. There’s no vendor lock-in, and it’s fully extendable. But what really sets it apart is its broad set of tools that enable you to build any digital project you can imagine. That’s why instead of hyping up our capabilities as “features,” we prefer to call them tools.