F5 BIG-IP Container Ingress Services

No phone app

6.5No. 12 of 26
in Kubernetes Ingress Controllers

Recognised40% of the score35
Phone app26% of the score0
Documented20% of the score79
Free plan14% of the score100

Free plan: Yes
Runs on: api, self-hosted

Summary

F5 BIG-IP Container Ingress Services is ranked #12 of 26 in Kubernetes ingress controllers on Samsung Mobile US Press. It runs on API, Self-hosted. There is a free plan.

F5 BIG-IP Container Ingress Services plans and pricing

All plans

Open-source software Free No charge Requires a compatible, licensed BIG-IP system · Kubernetes or OpenShift cluster · AS3 installed on BIG-IP f5.com · 4 Oct 2026

Compared on Kubernetes ingress controllers

Ingress API model: ingressclouddocs.f5.com
Canary routing: Yesclouddocs.f5.com
Web application firewall: Yesclouddocs.f5.com
Deployment model: self-hostedclouddocs.f5.com

Facts

Purpose: CIS integrates container orchestration environments with F5 BIG-IP to dynamically create L4/L7 services and load balance traffic as container applications change.clouddocs.f5.com · 4 Oct 2026
How it works: CIS watches Kubernetes resources and updates BIG-IP configuration accordingly; users manage BIG-IP through Kubernetes or OpenShift native CLI/API.clouddocs.f5.com · 4 Oct 2026
Routing and forwarding: CIS can forward traffic from BIG-IP to Kubernetes clusters through NodePort or ClusterIP and supports F5 AS3 declarations.clouddocs.f5.com · 4 Oct 2026
Orchestration integrations: F5 documents integrations with Kubernetes and Red Hat OpenShift, including Ingress resources and OpenShift Routes.clouddocs.f5.com · 4 Oct 2026
Traffic management: CIS supports HTTP and URI routing, load balancing, scaling, health monitoring, and Blue/Green and A/B traffic management for app versions.f5.com · 4 Oct 2026
Other integrations: F5 describes IngressLink as coordinating BIG-IP CIS with NGINX Ingress Controller, and lists overlay integrations including OpenShift SDN, Flannel, and Calico.f5.com · 4 Oct 2026
Observability: BIG-IP data streams can export application and network statistics to third-party visibility and analytics tools, with Splunk given as an example.f5.com · 4 Oct 2026
Security: F5 documents securing CIS BIG-IP credentials by storing them in HashiCorp Vault and synchronizing them to a Kubernetes Secret with External Secrets Operator.clouddocs.f5.com · 4 Oct 2026
Credential privilege: CIS requires administrative privileges on the BIG-IP iControl REST partition to configure objects, and its Kubernetes guide recommends a dedicated partition.clouddocs.f5.com · 4 Oct 2026
Support boundary: CIS is a control-plane component; the FAQ says traffic is not impacted during a CIS outage and that a replacement replica gathers cluster state and reapplies it to BIG-IP.clouddocs.f5.com · 4 Oct 2026
Compatibility: The current compatibility table lists tested Kubernetes versions v1.13–v1.35, OpenShift v3.11–v4.21.0, BIG-IP v12–v17, and AS3 v3.13–v3.56; unlisted versions are not verified by F5.clouddocs.f5.com · 4 Oct 2026
Notable constraint: F5 states NodePortLocal is available only with Antrea CNI and must be enabled in Antrea feature gates.clouddocs.f5.com · 4 Oct 2026
Intended users: F5 identifies network architects, network operations, AppDev, DevOps, and system infrastructure teams as target customers.clouddocs.f5.com · 4 Oct 2026
Installation and downloads: F5 documents Helm-based and manual installation and says CIS releases are available from Docker Hub and Red Hat Container Registry.clouddocs.f5.com · 4 Oct 2026