SHSelfHostIndex

HAProxy Kubernetes Ingress vs Ingress-NGINX

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
HA HAProxy Kubernetes Ingress Kubernetes ingress controller based on HAProxy VS IN Ingress-NGINX Kubernetes ingress controller using NGINX
FeatureHAProxy Kubernetes IngressIngress-NGINX
CategoryReverse Proxy & GatewaysReverse Proxy & Gateways
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguageGoGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM256 MB256 MB
Deploymentkubernetes, helmkubernetes, helm
GitHub stars★ 862★ 19,485
First released20192016
ReplacesAWS ALB IngressAWS ALB Ingress

Why pick each one

Choose HAProxy Kubernetes Ingress if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
  • Written in Go
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
HAProxy Kubernetes Ingress details

Choose Ingress-NGINX if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
  • Mature project with 19.5k GitHub stars
  • Written in Go
Ingress-NGINX details

Frequently asked questions

Is HAProxy Kubernetes Ingress or Ingress-NGINX better?

Neither is universally better. Ingress-NGINX has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are HAProxy Kubernetes Ingress and Ingress-NGINX free and open-source?

Yes. HAProxy Kubernetes Ingress is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Ingress-NGINX under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run HAProxy Kubernetes Ingress and Ingress-NGINX with Docker?

HAProxy Kubernetes Ingress: check the project docs for container support. Ingress-NGINX: check the project docs for container support.

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