$ k8scalc compare traefik nginx ingress
Traefik vs NGINX Ingress Controller
Traefik vs NGINX Ingress — compare automatic TLS, middleware support, performance, and Kubernetes-native routing. Which ingress controller is right for your cluster?
Verdict
Traefik is the better default for self-hosted Kubernetes — automatic Let's Encrypt TLS, built-in dashboard, rich middleware (rate limiting, auth, circuit breaker), and TCP/UDP routing out of the box. NGINX Ingress wins on raw throughput performance and has a significantly larger community. For most teams using k3s/kubeadm on Hetzner, Traefik's integrated TLS and middleware are worth more than NGINX's performance edge. Choose NGINX if you're handling very high concurrency (>10,000 req/s) or need the advanced load-balancing features of NGINX Plus.
Related tool
K8s Cluster Cost
Calculate the monthly cost of running a self-managed Kubernetes cluster on Hetzner Cloud, Vultr, or DigitalOcean. Choose server types for control planes, workers, and load balancers with HA mode.