Nat gateway and internet gateway

Question

The vpc currently routes 0.0.0.0/0 to an internet gateway. There are no options for public and private routes. Can I add 0.0.0.0/0 route to a nat gateway as well? Will this stop the internet gateway working?

Gary Mclean · Accepted Answer

A Nat Gateway needs an internet gateway to route to the internet.
You need different route tables for the private and public subnets

Please see example of how NAT Gateways and Internet Gateways should be setup

![Enter image description here](/media/postImages/original/IMdsjU6aBeQpqFojDz3tuygw)

**Public Route Table**
| Destination | Target|
| --- | --- |
| 0.0.0.0/0 | igw-id|

**Private Route Table**
| Destination | Target|
| --- | --- |
| 0.0.0.0/0 | nat-gateway-id|

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vpc/latest/userguide/vpc-example-private-subnets-nat.html

Florian Turnwald · Answer

Since the end of 2025, you have an additional option with the Amazon VPC **Regional NAT Gateway**, described and introduced in the following link by AWS. This means you no longer need to carefully ensure that the route with 0.0.0.0/0 in a private subnet is routed to the relevant NAT-Gateway within the same Availability Zone. This avoids cross-Availability Zone traffic and prevents misconfiguration and potential issues:
- see: [https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/networking-and-content-delivery/introducing-amazon-vpc-regional-nat-gateway/]()

Nat gateway and internet gateway

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