Ingress NGINX Retirement: The Ultimate Migration Kit

The ticking clock for Kubernetes networking has a date: March 2026.

For years, Ingress NGINX has been the default choice for routing traffic in Kubernetes clusters. It has served the community well, but recent announcements from the Kubernetes project confirm what we anticipated: Ingress NGINX is retiring, in less than 120 days.

We previously covered the urgency of this move in our articles on migrating from Ingress NGINX to Traefik now and strategies for the transition. Today, we are taking the next step to support the community with dedicated tools and resources.

The Hard Deadline

The official deprecation timeline is set. By March 2026, the project will cease all support. No patches. No updates. No security fixes.

If you are running Kubernetes in production, this is a critical risk. Running an unmaintained ingress controller exposes your infrastructure to future vulnerabilities that will simply go unpatched.

You Need a Plan

Panic is not a strategy, but preparation is. The move to the new Gateway API standard is the ultimate destination for the ecosystem, but rewriting every ingress route and reconfiguration every load balancer overnight is rarely feasible.

You need a strategy that covers both immediate security and future modernization:

Short Term (The Safety Net): Traefik with its NGINX provider is currently the only available solution on the market to provide native support for Ingress NGINX custom annotations. This makes Traefik the only true drop-in replacement, allowing you to migrate from Ingress NGINX with no changes required to your existing Ingress resources. You stay secure and supported without the need for a massive rewrite.
Long Term (The Modernization): Once you are on a stable, supported platform, you can gradually migrate to the Gateway API at your own pace, future-proofing your stack.

We Built The Ultimate Migration Kit

To help the community navigate this transition, we have consolidated all relevant information into a comprehensive project. We launched a dedicated website to guide you through every step of the process.

👉 The Migration Guide: ingressnginxmigration.org This website is your central resource. It breaks down the timeline, the risks, and provides a clear decision tree for your migration strategy.

image of the migration guide — Screenshot of ingressnginxmigration.org

👉 The Migration Tool: traefik/ingress-nginx-migration We didn't just write a guide; we built a powerful CLI tool to automate the pain away.

image of the migration tool — Screenshot of Migration Tool

Right now, the tool connects to your cluster, analyzes all your existing Ingress resources, and generates a comprehensive migration report. It identifies exactly which annotations you are using and maps out your path to Traefik’s NGINX-compatible provider.

We are actively developing this tool, with upcoming updates focused on Gateway API. Soon, it will not only help you migrate to a secure Ingress controller but also assist in migrating to the new Gateway API standard.

Making Migration a Non-Event

At Traefik Labs, we are dedicated to helping the community navigate this shift smoothly. Our goal is to turn this deprecation into a non-event for your infrastructure.

If you want to dive deeper into the migration process, join us at the webinar 100 Days to Migrate: Why Traefik is the Only Drop-in Replacement for Ingress NGINX.

Both the migration tool and the Traefik NGINX provider are fully Open Source. We built them for the community, and we believe in the power of collaboration. We invite you to try them, examine the code, and contribute. Whether it’s adding support for a specific annotation or improving the analysis logic, your contributions help make the path easier for everyone.

Don't wait for the deadline. Start planning your migration today.