Microsoft will retire the managed Nginx Ingress with Application Routing Add-on for Azure Kubernetes Service on November 30, 2026, after the Kubernetes community’s decision to end support. The open-source Ingress Nginx controller support ends in March 2026.
Key Dates
- March 2026: The Community Ingress NGINX project will be retired and no longer receive updates or security fixes.
- On November 30, 2026, Microsoft will end support for the NGINX Ingress Controller in Application Routing. Until then, only critical security patches will be provided.
Migration to Gateway API
Migrate to Kubernetes Gateway API alternatives. Gateway API provides stronger, more flexible L4 and L7 traffic management than the Ingress API.
Microsoft offers several supported alternatives and migration options:
- Application Gateway for Containers is a managed Layer 7 load balancer for containers. It supports Gateway API and Ingress API.
- Microsoft is developing a new gateway API-based application for routing add-on.
- If using a service mesh, consider the Istio add-on.
Action Plan
- Assess your progress: Check whether your AKS clusters use the community-maintained NGINX Ingress Controller or the NGINX Application Routing Add-on. Read the Microsoft LAM documentation to understand your migration paths to a supported platform.
- Develop a migration timeline. Allocate resources and test the new solution in a non-production environment. Document changes and notify stakeholders. Migrate early to avoid security risks.
Kubernetes SIG Network and the Security Response Committee are announcing that Ingress Nginx will be retired to help keep the ecosystem safe and secure. We will provide best effort maintenance until March 2026. After that, there will be no more releases, bug fixes, or security updates. Existing Ingress Nginx deployments will continue to work, and the installation files will remain available.
We strongly recommend that users begin migration to alternatives as soon as possible to ensure continued security and support. Gateway API is the modern replacement for Ingress and is a good option to consider. If you need to keep using Ingress, you can find other Ingress controllers listed in the Kubernetes documentation. Read on for more details about Ingress, NGINX’s history, current status, and next steps.
About Ingress NGINX
Ingress directs network traffic to Kubernetes workloads. Gateway API now handles similar tasks. Using Ingress requires a controller. Choose among controllers by user and cloud compatibility.
Ingress NGINX, created early in the Kubernetes project, became popular for its flexibility and features and is widely deployed across Kubernetes platforms.
History and Challenges
The wide range of features in Ingress NGINX has made it hard to maintain. As expectations for cloud-native software have changed, some features that were once helpful are now seen as security risks. For example, allowing users to add any NGINX configuration via snippets and annotations is now considered a serious flaw. What was once flexible has become technical debt too difficult to manage.
Not enough maintainers supported Ingress NGINX. One or two people kept it running, mostly in their free time. Last year, maintainers announced plans to shut down Ingress NGINX and build a replacement for the Gateway API. The announcement did not attract new contributors. IN-GATE, the planned replacement, is also being retired.
Current State and Following Steps
Right now, Ingress NGINX is only receiving best-effort maintenance. SIG Network and the Security Response Committee have tried everything to secure additional support and keep Ingress NGINX running. To keep users safe, we have decided to retire the project.
In March 2026, we will stop maintaining Ingress Nginx and retire the project. After that, there will be no more releases, bug fixes, or security updates. The GitHub repositories will become read-only but will stay available for reference.
Current Ingress Nginx deployments will continue to work. Project files, such as Helm charts and container images, will still be available.
To check if you are using Ingress NGINX, run `kubectl get pods -all-namespaces -l app.kubernetes.io/name=ingress-nginx as a cluster administrator.
We want to thank the Ingress Nginx maintenance team for their hard work and dedication to this project. This Ingress controller has handled billions of requests across data centers and home labs worldwide. Kubernetes would not be where it is today without Ingress Nginx, and we thank the many years of effort that went into it.
The Security Response Committee urges all Ingress Nginx users to migrate to Gateway API or another controller now. Review alternatives in the Kubernetes docs or through your vendors.
