Skip to content
Kong Logo | Kong Docs Logo
  • Docs
    • Explore the API Specs
      View all API Specs View all API Specs View all API Specs arrow image
    • Documentation
      API Specs
      Kong Gateway
      Lightweight, fast, and flexible cloud-native API gateway
      Kong Konnect
      Single platform for SaaS end-to-end connectivity
      Kong AI Gateway
      Multi-LLM AI Gateway for GenAI infrastructure
      Kong Mesh
      Enterprise service mesh based on Kuma and Envoy
      decK
      Helps manage Kong’s configuration in a declarative fashion
      Kong Ingress Controller
      Works inside a Kubernetes cluster and configures Kong to proxy traffic
      Kong Gateway Operator
      Manage your Kong deployments on Kubernetes using YAML Manifests
      Insomnia
      Collaborative API development platform
  • Plugin Hub
    • Explore the Plugin Hub
      View all plugins View all plugins View all plugins arrow image
    • Functionality View all View all arrow image
      View all plugins
      AI's icon
      AI
      Govern, secure, and control AI traffic with multi-LLM AI Gateway plugins
      Authentication's icon
      Authentication
      Protect your services with an authentication layer
      Security's icon
      Security
      Protect your services with additional security layer
      Traffic Control's icon
      Traffic Control
      Manage, throttle and restrict inbound and outbound API traffic
      Serverless's icon
      Serverless
      Invoke serverless functions in combination with other plugins
      Analytics & Monitoring's icon
      Analytics & Monitoring
      Visualize, inspect and monitor APIs and microservices traffic
      Transformations's icon
      Transformations
      Transform request and responses on the fly on Kong
      Logging's icon
      Logging
      Log request and response data using the best transport for your infrastructure
  • Support
  • Community
  • Kong Academy
Get a Demo Start Free Trial
Kong Ingress Controller
2.10.x
  • Home icon
  • Kong Ingress Controller
  • References
  • Supported Kong Router Flavors
github-edit-pageEdit this page
report-issueReport an issue
  • Kong Gateway
  • Kong Konnect
  • Kong Mesh
  • Kong AI Gateway
  • Plugin Hub
  • decK
  • Kong Ingress Controller
  • Kong Gateway Operator
  • Insomnia
  • Kuma

  • Docs contribution guidelines
  • unreleased
  • 3.4.x (latest) (LTS)
  • 3.3.x
  • 3.2.x
  • 3.1.x
  • 3.0.x
  • 2.12.x (LTS)
  • 2.11.x
  • 2.10.x
  • 2.9.x
  • 2.8.x
  • 2.7.x
  • 2.6.x
  • 2.5.x (LTS)
  • Introduction
    • FAQ
    • Version Support Policy
    • Stages of Software Availability
    • Changelog
  • Concepts
    • Architecture
    • Custom Resources
    • Deployment Methods
    • Kong for Kubernetes with Kong Gateway Enterprise
    • High-Availability and Scaling
    • Resource Classes
    • Security
    • Ingress Resource API Versions
    • Gateway API
    • Expression Based Router
  • Deployment
    • Kong Ingress on Minikube
    • Kong for Kubernetes
    • Kong Enterprise for Kubernetes (DB-less)
    • Kong Enterprise for Kubernetes (DB-backed)
    • Kong Ingress on AKS
    • Kong Ingress on EKS
    • Kong Ingress on GKE
    • Admission Webhook
    • Installing Gateway APIs
  • Guides
    • Getting Started with KIC
    • Upgrading from previous versions
    • Upgrading to Kong 3.x
    • Using Kong Gateway Enterprise
    • Getting Started using Istio
    • Using Custom Resources
      • Using the KongPlugin Resource
      • Using the KongIngress Resource
      • Using KongConsumer and KongCredential Resources
      • Using the TCPIngress Resource
      • Using the UDPIngress Resource
    • Using the ACL and JWT Plugins
    • Using cert-manager with Kong
    • Allowing Multiple Authentication Methods
    • Configuring a Fallback Service
    • Using an External Service
    • Configuring HTTPS Redirects for Services
    • Using Redis for Rate Limiting
    • Integrate KIC with Prometheus/Grafana
    • Configuring Circuit-Breaker and Health-Checking
    • Setting up a Custom Plugin
    • Setting up Upstream mTLS
    • Exposing a TCP/UDP/gRPC Service
      • Exposing a TCP Service
      • Exposing a UDP Service
      • Exposing a gRPC service
    • Using the mTLS Auth Plugin
    • Using the OpenID Connect Plugin
    • Rewriting Hosts and Paths
    • Preserving Client IP Address
    • Using Kong with Knative
    • Using Multiple Backend Services
    • Using Gateway Discovery
    • Routing by Header
  • References
    • KIC Annotations
    • CLI Arguments
    • Custom Resource Definitions
    • Plugin Compatibility
    • Version Compatibility
    • Supported Kong Router Flavors
    • Troubleshooting
    • Kubernetes Events
    • Prometheus Metrics
    • Feature Gates
    • Supported Gateway API Features
enterprise-switcher-icon Switch to OSS
You are browsing documentation for an older version. See the latest documentation here.

Supported Kong Router Flavors

Kong Gateway (open-source and enterprise edition) includes an expression-based router in versions 3.0 and later. The router can be configured in the following modes:

  • traditional: uses the pre-3.0 router.
  • traditional_compatible: uses the expression based router, but the router configuration interface remains the same as traditional.
  • expressions: uses the expression-based router, and expressions must be provided in the router configuration interface.

The compatibilities of router flavors between different Kong Ingress Controller versions and Kong Gateway are shown in the following table. Kong Ingress Controller in versions 2.6.x and lower does not support Kong Gateway 3.0 and later, so the version of Kong Ingress Controller begins at 2.7.x.

Kong Ingress Controller 2.7.x 2.8.x 2.9.x 2.10.x
Kong 3.x traditional
Kong 3.x traditional_compatible (1) (1) (1) (1)
Kong 3.x expressions (2)

(1) Most use cases are supported. The incompatible cases comes from the difference of regular expression standards in different routers: traditional router accepts PCRE 2 regular expressions, but traditional_compatible and expressions routers accepts regular expression in Rust. The most significant difference is that Regular expressions with a backslash (\) followed by a non-escaped character (for example, \j or \/) in matches of paths or headers are accepted in traditional router but not accepted when Kong Gateway 3.x is configured to use the traditional_compatible router.

(2) Limited support of expression based router (alpha maturity). Please refer to expression router concept page to see detailed status of supporting Kong Gateway with expression router.

Thank you for your feedback.
Was this page useful?
Too much on your plate? close cta icon
More features, less infrastructure with Kong Konnect. 1M requests per month for free.
Try it for Free
  • Kong
    Powering the API world

    Increase developer productivity, security, and performance at scale with the unified platform for API management, service mesh, and ingress controller.

    • Products
      • Kong Konnect
      • Kong Gateway Enterprise
      • Kong Gateway
      • Kong Mesh
      • Kong Ingress Controller
      • Kong Insomnia
      • Product Updates
      • Get Started
    • Documentation
      • Kong Konnect Docs
      • Kong Gateway Docs
      • Kong Mesh Docs
      • Kong Insomnia Docs
      • Kong Konnect Plugin Hub
    • Open Source
      • Kong Gateway
      • Kuma
      • Insomnia
      • Kong Community
    • Company
      • About Kong
      • Customers
      • Careers
      • Press
      • Events
      • Contact
  • Terms• Privacy• Trust and Compliance
© Kong Inc. 2025