No. 8 of 27 ·Kubernetes Ingress Controllers

NGINX Ingress Controller

Self-hosted

Freedom report

Two barsScore 6.3

Free tierA free tier is on its own pricing page
Open codeNo open-source code on record
Runs widely0 of 6 device platforms
DocumentedPlans, terms and facts published

NGINX Ingress Controller is ranked #8 of 27 in Kubernetes ingress controllers on Freedom251. It runs on Self-hosted. There is a free plan.

NGINX Ingress Controller plans and pricing

All plans

NGINX Ingress Controller with NGINX Open Source Free Kubernetes cluster required · uses NGINX Open Source docs.nginx.com · 30 Sept 2026

NGINX Plus Ingress Controller Not published NGINX Ingress Controller subscription required · JWT or certificate credentials required for registry access docs.nginx.com · 30 Sept 2026

Compared on Kubernetes ingress controllers

Free plan: Yes
Ingress API model: ingress
TLS automation: Yes
Canary routing: Yes
Rate limiting: Yes
Web application firewall: Yes
Auth policies: Yes
Deployment model: self-hosted

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The record

Purpose: NGINX Ingress Controller is a Kubernetes Ingress Controller that load balances WebSocket, gRPC, TCP, and UDP applications.
Routing and TLS: It supports content-based routing and TLS/SSL termination, with additional NGINX features configurable through annotations and ConfigMaps.
NGINX Plus features: NGINX Plus adds real-time metrics, additional load-balancing methods, session persistence options, active health checks, and JWT validation.
Security policies: Policy resources include access control, rate limiting, API keys, authentication, mTLS, WAF, CORS, and HSTS options, with some policies requiring NGINX Plus.
Integrations: Documented integrations include F5 WAF for NGINX, F5 DoS for NGINX, F5 BIG-IP, cert-manager, ExternalDNS, Prometheus, Istio, Linkerd, and Open Service Mesh.
Prometheus: The controller can expose NGINX and controller metrics in Prometheus format, including through a ServiceMonitor when using Prometheus Operator.
Deployment choices: Manifest installation supports Deployment, DaemonSet, or StatefulSet deployment modes.
Security guidance: The maker recommends encrypting Kubernetes Secrets at rest and documents least-privilege RBAC, while noting the default ServiceAccount can access all Secrets in the cluster.
Read-only filesystem: A read-only root filesystem is recommended to reduce attack surface but is not enabled by default.
Plus licensing telemetry: NGINX Plus requires a JWT for subscription validation and reports usage telemetry by default every hour and when NGINX is reloaded.
Release support: The maker says each annual Long-Term Support release is supported for up to three years and receives security and stability bug fixes.
Maker: F5 lists its headquarters as Seattle, Washington, and its founding year as 1996.
Price from: Free

Where it ranks on Freedom251

Best Kubernetes Ingress Controllers in 2026#8 of 27

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Sources

docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/· checked 30 Sept 2026
docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/overview/nginx· checked 30 Sept 2026
docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/configuration/· checked 30 Sept 2026
docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/integrations/· checked 30 Sept 2026
docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/logging-and-mo· checked 30 Sept 2026
docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/install/manife· checked 30 Sept 2026
docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/configuration/· checked 30 Sept 2026
docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/install/licens· checked 30 Sept 2026
docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/lts/changelog/· checked 30 Sept 2026
f5.com/pdf/f5/corporate-flyer.pdf· checked 30 Sept 2026