Use the Load Balancer Controller for a single cluster and VPC Lattice for services across clusters.

Both implement Gateway API, backed by different AWS products and aimed at different problems.

AWS Load Balancer Controller

north-south, one cluster

Gateway API HTTPRoute and GRPCRoute become an ALB.
L4 routes (TCPRoute, UDPRoute, TLSRoute) become an NLB.
Same controller you may already run for Ingress: easy continuity.
GatewayClass controllers: gateway.k8s.aws/alb, gateway.k8s.aws/nlb.

AWS Gateway API Controller (VPC Lattice)

east-west, many clusters and accounts

Provisions VPC Lattice service networks and services.
Cross-cluster, cross-VPC, cross-account service connectivity.
Auth policies and sharing through AWS RAM.
Concepts: ServiceExport and ServiceImport.

GatewayClass for the ALB path

kind: GatewayClass
metadata: {name: alb}
spec: {controllerName: gateway.k8s.aws/alb}

Check support before you design

Gateway API support in the Load Balancer Controller has matured quickly, including L4 routes. Older articles say TCP and UDP routes are unsupported on EKS, which is now out of date. Confirm the feature level of the controller version you install.

Gateway API on EKS: two controllers, two scopes

Gateway API is the role-oriented successor to Ingress that you met in Deck 1. On EKS there are two independent implementations backed by different AWS products. The AWS Load Balancer Controller implements it with the load balancers you already know: HTTPRoute and GRPCRoute produce an Application Load Balancer, and L4 routes produce a Network Load Balancer. It is the natural next step for teams already running that controller for Ingress.

The second implementation is the AWS Gateway API Controller for VPC Lattice, which provisions Lattice resources. VPC Lattice solves a different problem: service-to-service connectivity across clusters, VPCs and accounts without peering or Transit Gateway plumbing. Choose by scope: a single cluster's ingress points to the Load Balancer Controller, cross-cluster or cross-account service networking points to Lattice.

Version caution. Gateway API support in the Load Balancer Controller was introduced as beta and reached general availability in a later major release, and early documentation, including some we based our tutorial on, said TCP and UDP routes were unsupported. Current releases support L4 routes through NLBs. Always read the release notes for the version you plan to run.

Teams that want portability across clouds may prefer a vendor-neutral implementation such as Envoy Gateway or Cilium Gateway running in the cluster (Deck 7), accepting that AWS-integrated features like WAF attachment then need extra wiring.