Kubernetes Retires Ingress NGINX

What It Means and How Asergo Can Help Your Transition

November 26, 2025

3 min read

Copenhagen, Denmark

Asergo Team

Introduction

Kubernetes Ingress NGINX has been a cornerstone for managing external access to cluster services, offering flexibility, reliability, and a rich feature set. However, the Kubernetes community recently announced the retirement of the community-driven Ingress NGINX Controller, marking a significant shift in how organizations should approach ingress management. This change reflects the evolving needs of modern cloud-native environments and the importance of sustainable, well-maintained solutions.

At Asergo, we understand that transitions like this can be complex. That’s why we’re here to guide you through the process, helping you move from Ingress NGINX to more future-proof alternatives—specifically, Gateway API and Traefik Ingress Controller. While you’re free to choose any ingress solution that fits your needs, we believe these options offer the best path forward for most use cases.

Why Is Ingress NGINX Being Retired?

The decision to retire Ingress NGINX stems from several key factors:

  • Maintenance Challenges: The project faced growing difficulties in sustaining active development and support, with insufficient maintainership to keep pace with Kubernetes’ rapid evolution.
  • Fragmentation: The existence of both community-driven and commercially-backed NGINX Ingress Controllers created redundancy and divided resources.
  • Ecosystem Maturity: Modern Kubernetes environments increasingly demand advanced traffic management, security, and observability features, which are better addressed by newer solutions like Gateway API and Traefik.

Key Dates:

  • Best-effort maintenance will continue until March 2026.
  • After March 2026, no new releases, bug fixes, or security updates will be provided.
  • The project’s GitHub repositories will become read-only in March 2026.
  • Existing deployments will continue to function, and installation artifacts will remain available, but no new support will be offered.

What Does This Mean for You?

If your cluster currently uses Ingress NGINX, it’s time to evaluate your options. While your existing setup will keep running, the lack of future updates and security patches poses a risk. To check if you’re using Ingress NGINX, run the following command with admin permissions:

kubectl get pods --all-namespaces --selector app.kubernetes.io/name=ingress-nginx

If this command returns pods, you’re using Ingress NGINX and should start planning your migration.

Recommended Path Forward: Gateway API and Traefik

At Asergo, we recommend Gateway API as the successor to Ingress NGINX. Gateway API is a Kubernetes SIG-NETWORK project designed to provide a more powerful, extensible, and role-oriented way to manage traffic into your cluster. It offers improved flexibility, better integration with service meshes, and a clearer separation of concerns between infrastructure and application teams.

For those with specific configuration needs, Traefik Ingress Controller is another excellent choice. Traefik is known for its simplicity, dynamic configuration, and strong support for modern protocols and observability. Importantly, Traefik can work alongside Gateway API, allowing you to combine the best of both worlds.

Why Gateway API?

  • Future-Proof: Actively developed and backed by the Kubernetes community.
  • Role-Oriented: Clear separation between infrastructure and application concerns.
  • Extensible: Supports advanced routing, security, and observability features.

Why Traefik?

  • Dynamic Configuration: Automatically updates routing rules based on your services.
  • Simplicity: Easy to set up and manage, with a strong focus on user experience.
  • Compatibility: Works seamlessly with Gateway API, providing a smooth migration path.

Of course, you’re not limited to these options. Kubernetes supports a variety of ingress controllers, and you’re free to choose the one that best fits your requirements.

How Asergo Can Help

As an Asergo customer, you don’t have to navigate this transition alone. Our team of Kubernetes experts is ready to assist you in:

  • Assessing Your Current Setup: We’ll help you determine if and how you’re using Ingress NGINX.
  • Planning Your Migration: We’ll work with you to design a migration strategy tailored to your cluster and applications.
  • Implementing Gateway API or Traefik: We’ll guide you through the installation, configuration, and testing process.
  • Ongoing Support: We’ll ensure your new ingress solution is optimized for performance, security, and scalability.

Your next step is simple: Contact our team to discuss your upgrade path and its implications for your cluster.

Conclusion

The retirement of Ingress NGINX is a reminder of the fast-paced nature of cloud-native technologies. While change can be challenging, it also presents an opportunity to adopt more robust, scalable, and maintainable solutions. At Asergo, we’re committed to helping you make this transition as smooth as possible.

Whether you choose Gateway API, Traefik, or another ingress controller, we’re here to support you every step of the way. Let’s ensure your Kubernetes infrastructure remains secure, performant, and ready for the future.

Ready to start your migration?

Contact Asergo today to discuss your options and plan your next steps.