diff --git a/CHANGELOG.asciidoc b/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
index 5d981054601..79d3a03a969 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ https://github.com/elastic/beats/compare/v6.0.0-beta2...master[Check the HEAD di
 
 - Fix default paths for redis 4.0.1 logs on macOS {pull}5173[5173]
 - Fix Filebeat not starting if command line and modules configs are used together. {issue}5376[5376]
+- Add support for adding string tags {pull}5395{5395}
 
 *Heartbeat*
 
diff --git a/filebeat/tests/files/logs/json_tag.log b/filebeat/tests/files/logs/json_tag.log
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c74dea53d81
--- /dev/null
+++ b/filebeat/tests/files/logs/json_tag.log
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{"http_user_agent": "ELB-HealthChecker/1.0", "tags": ["tag1", "tag2"]}
diff --git a/filebeat/tests/system/test_json.py b/filebeat/tests/system/test_json.py
index 70a4a554064..0e2f58b3a05 100644
--- a/filebeat/tests/system/test_json.py
+++ b/filebeat/tests/system/test_json.py
@@ -130,6 +130,29 @@ def test_simple_json_overwrite(self):
         assert output["source"] == "hello"
         assert output["message"] == "test source"
 
+    def test_json_add_tags(self):
+        self.render_config_template(
+            path=os.path.abspath(self.working_dir) + "/log/*",
+            json=dict(
+                keys_under_root=True,
+            ),
+            agent_tags=["tag3", "tag4"]
+        )
+        os.mkdir(self.working_dir + "/log/")
+        self.copy_files(["logs/json_tag.log"],
+                        source_dir="../files",
+                        target_dir="log")
+
+        proc = self.start_beat()
+        self.wait_until(
+            lambda: self.output_has(lines=1),
+            max_timeout=10)
+
+        proc.check_kill_and_wait()
+
+        output = self.read_output()[0]
+        assert sorted(output["tags"]) == ["tag1", "tag2", "tag3", "tag4"]
+
     def test_config_no_msg_key_filtering(self):
         """
         Should raise an error if line filtering and JSON are defined,
diff --git a/libbeat/common/mapstr.go b/libbeat/common/mapstr.go
index 3bf851266e7..31164bf6f96 100644
--- a/libbeat/common/mapstr.go
+++ b/libbeat/common/mapstr.go
@@ -247,19 +247,23 @@ func AddTags(ms MapStr, tags []string) error {
 	if ms == nil || len(tags) == 0 {
 		return nil
 	}
-
-	tagsIfc, ok := ms[TagsKey]
-	if !ok {
+	eventTags, exists := ms[TagsKey]
+	if !exists {
 		ms[TagsKey] = tags
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	existingTags, ok := tagsIfc.([]string)
-	if !ok {
-		return errors.Errorf("expected string array by type is %T", tagsIfc)
+	switch arr := eventTags.(type) {
+	case []string:
+		ms[TagsKey] = append(arr, tags...)
+	case []interface{}:
+		for _, tag := range tags {
+			arr = append(arr, tag)
+		}
+		ms[TagsKey] = arr
+	default:
+		return errors.Errorf("expected string array by type is %T", eventTags)
 	}
-
-	ms[TagsKey] = append(existingTags, tags...)
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/libbeat/common/mapstr_test.go b/libbeat/common/mapstr_test.go
index 633032a8f8f..cbac6c647c2 100644
--- a/libbeat/common/mapstr_test.go
+++ b/libbeat/common/mapstr_test.go
@@ -390,7 +390,7 @@ func TestAddTag(t *testing.T) {
 				"tags": []string{"json"},
 			},
 		},
-		// Existing tags, appends
+		// Existing tags is a []string, appends
 		{
 			Event: MapStr{
 				"tags": []string{"json"},
@@ -400,7 +400,17 @@ func TestAddTag(t *testing.T) {
 				"tags": []string{"json", "docker"},
 			},
 		},
-		// Existing tags is not a []string
+		// Existing tags is a []interface{}, appends
+		{
+			Event: MapStr{
+				"tags": []interface{}{"json"},
+			},
+			Tags: []string{"docker"},
+			Output: MapStr{
+				"tags": []interface{}{"json", "docker"},
+			},
+		},
+		// Existing tags is not a []string or []interface{}
 		{
 			Event: MapStr{
 				"tags": "not a slice",