The Kubernetes ingress-nginx controller is set to be retired after March 2026, following the SIG Network's announcement. Although it will receive best-effort maintenance until then, users need to prepare their GKE clusters (around 160 ingresses in my case) for new options. I'm considering several alternatives:
- **Envoy Gateway**: Looks like the future-proof option with native support for the Gateway API.
- **F5 NGINX Ingress Controller**: Different project but still maintained, and it offers an easier migration path.
- **Traefik**: I've heard positive things—anyone using it at scale?
- **Istio Gateway**: Seems a bit much unless I need a full service mesh.
If anyone has gone through this migration already, I'd love to hear:
- What did you choose and why?
- How painful was it to leave the annotation mess behind?
- Is the Gateway API mature enough for production use?
I'm leaning towards Envoy Gateway but I'm curious about real-world experiences from others.
6 Answers
Just switched to Traefik—smooth sailing so far! Honestly, it's pretty straightforward to get set up, and they have great documentation.
It's definitely not a good idea to stay on nginx-ingress past its shelf life. Your clusters won't just die in March 2026, but it’s risky since no more updates or fixes will come. I'd suggest easing into the migration gradually instead of a big overhaul all at once. Run both side-by-side if you can—keep it low-drama!
We've been using Envoy Gateway for other projects with no issues, so it makes sense for us to replace our ingresses with it when we migrate. Good to hear you're considering it!
That's reassuring! Any reason you're leaning towards Envoy over Traefik? Traefik comes included for us, but I often hear Envoy is the better choice.
I use HAProxy and it's been doing just fine. Surprised it doesn’t come up more often in these discussions. It's not overly complex, and it's reliable for my load balancing needs.
I use HAProxy too! It’s familiar and gets the job done. But have you checked if other options might fit your needs better?
Traefik seems like the best bet for those needing an easy migration option. It supports most NGINX-specific annotations and the Gateway API. If you’re at a large scale without being locked into any contracts, you might want to explore other tools too.
What's wrong with asking questions about the best migration path? Everyone has their experience and it's valuable to share!
I think moving away from nginx-ingress is a no-go unless you're okay with paying up. It just doesn't support the annotations I need. What specific annotations are you missing?
I'm missing a few critical ones. I thought most had equivalents in the VirtualServer CRDs. Did you end up switching to something else?
We've got custom configurations like maintenance pages and SEO settings. Keeping both running while migrating sounds smart. I don't want to scramble if an urgent issue arises after the retirement date!