Farewell NGINX Ingress: Explore a Better Path Forward with Kong

The Kubernetes networking landscape is evolving, and recent announcements confirm a significant community shift.

The Kubernetes community recently announced the upcoming retirement of one of its most widely used components: Ingress NGINX

"To prioritize the safety and security of the ecosystem, Kubernetes SIG Network and the Security Response Committee are announcing the upcoming retirement of Ingress NGINX. Best-effort maintenance will continue until March 2026. Afterward, there will be no further releases, no bugfixes, and no updates to resolve any security vulnerabilities that may be discovered."

The NGINX Ingress controller has served the Kubernetes community well over the years. As we have seen customers adopt Kubernetes to host their APIs and web traffic, the evolution of Ingress to the more persona-driven Gateway API has ramped up. 

Kong has long recognized that the Gateway API represents the future of Kubernetes networking. We were one of the earliest and most complete adopters (and contributors) of the new specification. Our commitment ensures that our users benefit from the new API's advantages:

• First-class support for GatewayClass, Gateway, and HTTPRoute
• Expressive traffic routing with filters, rewrites, timeouts, retries, and header manipulation
• Clear separation of concerns between platform admins and application teams
• Future-proof alignment with the Kubernetes networking roadmap

While we at Kong recommend migrating to Gateway API, we understand that customers with large, complex Ingress deployments need a smooth transition path. We want to assure readers that Kong will continue to support Ingress resources as long as the Kubernetes API allows, offering stability while you plan your transition. Kong provides the tools to bridge this gap.  

Migration tooling: ingress2gateway

To help customers facing the NGINX Ingress retirement, Kong developed the open-source ingress2gateway tool. This utility simplifies the migration process by automatically translating existing NGINX Ingress resources into equivalent Gateway API resources, reducing manual effort and accelerating your transition.

Kong Operator with dual-API support

For customers who still want a robust, enterprise-ready gateway that supports both Ingress and Gateway API (providing a flexible runway for migration), take a look at Kong Operator. 

The Kong Operator is the Kubernetes-native way to run Kong Gateway, taking care of the day-to-day operations, delivering operational excellence and stability with continued support for your existing Ingress deployments:

• Zero-downtime config updates
• Zero-downtime Gateway upgrades
• Ultra-low latency data plane powered by the battle-tested Kong Gateway.
• Rich plugin ecosystem for security, transformation, and observability
• Native support for horizontal scaling and autoscaling in Kubernetes

The complete API lifecycle solution: Kong Konnect

APIs aren’t just about the route into your Kubernetes cluster; they're about the entire ecosystem that drives API operationalization, governance, and developer experience. 

Together, Kong Operator and Kong Konnect provide the most complete replacement for NGINX Ingress for organizations that need both Kubernetes-native operations and end-to-end API lifecycle management. This integration allows you to:

• Debug your end-to-end API calls with integrated tracing
• Publish your APIs through the Developer Portal
• Create a Service Catalog of your APIs to manage Day-2 operations and governance
• Gather metrics and telemetry for an always-on view of your API platform
• Integrate with Billing and Subscriptions for real-time cost management

Kong is deeply committed to the Gateway API and is ready to support your organization’s transition. We provide the tools, the technology, and the enterprise stability needed to navigate this important shift in the Kubernetes networking ecosystem, all while supporting your current Ingress investments.