| Aspect or Feature | kubernetes/ingress-nginx | nginxinc/kubernetes-ingress with NGINX | nginxinc/kubernetes-ingress with NGINX Plus |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Fundamental** |
| Authors | Kubernetes community | NGINX Inc and community |  NGINX Inc and community |
| NGINX version | [Custom](https://github.com/kubernetes/ingress-nginx/tree/master/images/nginx) NGINX build that includes several third-party modules | NGINX official mainline [build](https://github.com/nginxinc/docker-nginx) | NGINX Plus |
| Commercial support | N/A | N/A | Included |
| Implemented in | Go/Lua (while Nginx is written in C) |  Go/Python |  Go/Python |
| **Load balancing configuration via the Ingress resource** |
| Merging Ingress rules with the same host | Supported | Supported via [Mergeable Ingresses](../examples/mergeable-ingress-types) | Supported via [Mergeable Ingresses](../examples/mergeable-ingress-types) |
| HTTP load balancing extensions - Annotations | See the [supported annotations](https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx/user-guide/nginx-configuration/annotations/) | See the [supported annotations](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/configuration/ingress-resources/advanced-configuration-with-annotations/) | See the [supported annotations](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/configuration/ingress-resources/advanced-configuration-with-annotations/)|
| HTTP load balancing extensions -- ConfigMap | See the [supported ConfigMap keys](https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx/user-guide/nginx-configuration/configmap/) | See the [supported ConfigMap keys](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/configuration/global-configuration/configmap-resource/) | See the [supported ConfigMap keys](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/configuration/global-configuration/configmap-resource/) |
| TCP/UDP | Supported via a ConfigMap | Supported via custom resources | Supported via custom resources |
| Websocket  | Supported | Supported via an [annotation](../examples/websocket) | Supported via an [annotation](../examples/websocket) |
| TCP SSL Passthrough | Supported via a ConfigMap | Supported via custom resources | Supported via custom resources |
| JWT validation | Not supported | Not supported | Supported |
| Session persistence | Supported via a third-party module | Not supported | Supported |
| Canary testing (by header, cookie, weight) | Supported via annotations | Supported via custom resources | Supported via custom resources |
| Configuration templates | See the [template](https://github.com/kubernetes/ingress-nginx/blob/master/rootfs/etc/nginx/template/nginx.tmpl) | See the [templates](../internal/configs/version1) | See the [templates](../internal/configs/version1) |
| **Load balancing configuration via Custom Resources** |
| HTTP load balancing | Not supported | See [VirtualServer and VirtualServerRoute](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/configuration/virtualserver-and-virtualserverroute-resources/) resources | See [VirtualServer and VirtualServerRoute](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/configuration/virtualserver-and-virtualserverroute-resources/) resources |
| TCP/UDP load balancing | Not supported | See [TransportServer](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/configuration/transportserver-resource/) resource | See [TransportServer](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/configuration/transportserver-resource/) resource |
| TCP SSL Passthrough load balancing | Not supported | See [TransportServer](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/configuration/transportserver-resource/) resource | See [TransportServer](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/configuration/transportserver-resource/) resource |
| **Deployment** |
| Command-line arguments | See the [arguments](https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx/user-guide/cli-arguments/) | See the [arguments](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/configuration/global-configuration/command-line-arguments/) | See the [arguments](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/configuration/global-configuration/command-line-arguments/) |
| TLS certificate and key for the default server | Required as a command-line argument/ auto-generated | Required as a command-line argument | Required as a command-line argument |
| Helm chart | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Operator | Not supported | Supported | Supported |
| **Operational** |
| Reporting the IP address(es) of the Ingress controller into Ingress resources | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Extended Status | Supported via a third-party module | Not supported | Supported |
| Prometheus Integration | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Dynamic reconfiguration of endpoints (no configuration reloading) | Supported with a third-party Lua module | Not supported | Supported |