Nginx vs Traefik
Reverse proxy and ingress — static config vs dynamic service discovery.
| Aspect | 🌐 Nginx | 🔀 Traefik |
|---|---|---|
| Config | nginx.conf + site files | Static file or K8s IngressRoute CRDs |
| TLS | certbot, manual certs | Let's Encrypt built-in (ACME) |
| K8s ingress | ingress-nginx controller | Traefik ingress controller native |
| Dynamic backends | Upstream blocks, manual reload | Auto-discovers Docker/K8s labels |
| Performance | Battle-tested, very fast | Fast; simpler for microservices |
| Ops familiarity | Everywhere — default choice | Popular in cloud-native stacks |
When to use which
Nginx
Maximum docs, team knows nginx.conf, or bare-metal VM reverse proxy.
Traefik
Kubernetes ingress with automatic certs and label-based routing.