The ingress-nginx controller is retiring by March 2026, but the Ingress resource itself remains valid. Traefik Proxy v3.5+ offers a drop-in replacement with nginx annotation compatibility, allowing teams to migrate gradually. The recommended two-step approach involves first switching to Traefik's nginx provider for immediate compatibility, then progressively migrating to the Gateway API standard using the ingress2gateway tool. Traefik bridges gaps in Gateway API through ExtensionRef and Middleware resources, enabling features like basic authentication while maintaining production stability throughout the transition.
Table of contents
No, Ingress Isn’t Dead — Just the Old Default ControllerTraefik 3.6: Your Zero-Drama Drop-In ReplacementStopgap: Keep Using Annotations for Most Use CasesStep 2: Move to Gateway API, On Your TimelineConclussionSort: