Kong Ingress Controller is compatible with different versions of Kong Gateway, Kubernetes, and Istio.
Version compatibility
Uses:
Kong Ingress Controller
Related Documentation
Tags
Kong Gateway
The following table shows the compatibility of Kong Ingress Controller with Kong Gateway versions:
| Kong Ingress Controller | 2.12.x | 3.0.x | 3.1.x | 3.2.x | 3.3.x | 3.4.x | 3.5.x |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kong Gateway 2.8.x | Supported | Not supported | Not supported | Not supported | Not supported | Not supported | Not supported |
| Kong Gateway 3.4.x | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Kong Gateway 3.5.x | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Kong Gateway 3.6.x | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Kong Gateway 3.7.x | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Kong Gateway 3.8.x | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Kong Gateway 3.9.x | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Kong Gateway 3.10.x | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Kong Gateway 3.11.x | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Kong Gateway 3.12.x | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
Kubernetes
Kong Ingress Controller compatibility with Kubernetes depends on Kubernetes and Gateway API versions.
General
The following table presents the general compatibility of Kong Ingress Controller with specific Kubernetes versions.
| Kong Ingress Controller | 2.12.x | 3.0.x | 3.1.x | 3.2.x | 3.3.x | 3.4.x | 3.5.x |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kubernetes 1.34 | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Kubernetes 1.33 | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Kubernetes 1.32 | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Kubernetes 1.31 | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Kubernetes 1.30 | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Kubernetes 1.29 | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Kubernetes 1.28 | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Kubernetes 1.27 | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
Gateway API
The following table presents the compatibility of Kong Ingress Controller’s Gateway API with specific Kubernetes minor versions. As Kong Ingress Controller implements Gateway API features using the upstream project, which defines its own compatibility declarations, the expected compatibility of Gateway API features might be limited to those.
| Kong Ingress Controller | 2.12.x | 3.0.x | 3.1.x | 3.2.x | 3.3.x | 3.4.x | 3.5.x |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gateway API 1.3 | Not supported | Not supported | Not supported | Not supported | Not supported | Not supported | Supported |
| Gateway API 1.2 | Not supported | Not supported | Not supported | Not supported | Not supported | Supported | Supported |
| Gateway API 1.1 | Not supported | Not supported | Not supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Gateway API 1.0 | Not supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Gateway API 0.8 | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Not supported |
For specific Gateway API resources support, see the Gateway API page.
Istio
The Kong Ingress Controller can be integrated with an Istio Service Mesh to use Kong Gateway as an ingress gateway for application traffic into the mesh network.
We run tests for each Kong Ingress Controller release to verify this documentation with upcoming versions of KIC and Istio. The following table lists the tested combinations:
| Kong Ingress Controller | 2.12.x | 3.0.x | 3.1.x | 3.2.x | 3.3.x | 3.4.x | 3.5.x |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Istio 1.26 | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Istio 1.25 | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Istio 1.24 | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Istio 1.23 | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Istio 1.22 | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
| Istio 1.21 | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
FAQs
Why is my KIC instance read-only in Konnect?
Because Kubernetes resources are the source of truth for configuring Kong Gateway in Kubernetes, the KIC instance configuration in Konnect is marked as read-only. This prevents configuration drift in Kong Gateway caused by changes made outside the Ingress or Kubernetes Gateway API.
For example, if a Route is created via the Kubernetes Gateway API and then modified in Kong Gateway, those changes wouldn’t be reflected in the CRD and would conflict with the desired state defined in the CRD.