The short answer to “what domain is .de?” is Germany’s own extension, and one of the largest in the world. This guide covers who runs it, how a .de domain registration works, what a .de domain name may contain, how many exist and what to check before buying one. All DENIC and IANA pages were checked on 1 November 2026; DENIC notes that only its German texts are legally binding.
Who runs .de and how it is sold
IANA’s root database lists the manager of .de as DENIC eG, Theodor-Stern-Kai 1, Frankfurt am Main. Its WHOIS server is whois.denic.de. IANA’s records show .de was created on 5 November 1986, so the extension turns 40 four days after this post. After spells at the universities of Dortmund and Karlsruhe, in December 1996 a meeting of 37 German internet service providers decided to form a cooperative: “This marks the birth of DENIC eG.”
The DENIC Domain Guidelines say DENIC “administers and operates the registry for Internet domains under the Top Level Domain (TLD) .de” and does so “without the intention to make any profit”. DENIC says it has around 290 members, each with a vote at the general meeting.
There are two ways in. “Applications for domains may be submitted either through a DENIC member or directly to DENIC (DENICdirect).” Most people use a provider that is a member or works with one, and DENIC gives no price for that route because “each provider decides themselves what to charge”. DENICdirect’s own price list shows €79.00 a year for domain administration including registration, with “all prices include the statutory value added tax” (checked 1 November 2026). DENIC is clear that this is not the market rate: as a not-for-profit it must charge cost price, so DENICdirect prices “are thus generally higher than those charged by providers”. General domain pricing is covered in how much is a domain name.
Whichever route you take, “a contractual relationship is created between you as the domain holder and DENIC as the registry.” That contract “is concluded for an indefinite period” and the holder can end it at any time, so there is no fixed term at registry level. Names go “first come, first served”.
Who can register a .de domain
Anyone. The holder is “DENIC’s contractual partner” and must supply a full name (or full company name with legal form), street address, email address and telephone number; “a post office box number does not suffice”. Since the GDPR took effect in May 2018, DENIC “no longer records an administrative contact (Admin-C)”.
For holders outside Germany, DENIC’s terms say they “shall name within two weeks of a corresponding request by DENIC an authorised representative domiciled in Germany for receiving the service of official or court documents”. That request arises only when someone wanting to serve documents asks for it and the conditions for a Dispute entry are met. In practice, a non-resident needs no German contact to register; one is needed only if a rights holder pursues a claim against the name. Ignoring the request after a warning is a ground for termination.
What a .de domain name can contain
A .de name “may only be comprised of digits (0–9), hyphens, the letters A-Z of the Latin alphabet and the other letters listed in the Annex”. It may not begin or end with a hyphen, or have hyphens as both its third and fourth characters, and upper and lower case are treated the same. The minimum length is one character and the maximum 63; for names with special letters, the limit applies to the ACE-encoded form defined in RFC 5890.
The Annex adds 93 letters: umlauts such as ä, ö and ü, the Eszett (ß), accented letters such as á, è and ô, and characters from other European languages. DENIC’s example is dänic.de, whose technical form is xn--dnic-loa.de, so a company called DÄNIC can register dänic.de, not just daenic.de. DENIC’s statistics count 614,987 of these internationalised names on 31 October 2026.
| Rule | What DENIC says |
|---|---|
| Registry | DENIC eG, a not-for-profit cooperative in Frankfurt |
| How to buy | Through a member or provider, or DENICdirect (€79 a year incl. VAT) |
| Residency | None; a German recipient for documents only on DENIC’s request |
| Characters | a–z, 0–9, hyphen, plus 93 extra letters |
| Length | 1 to 63 characters (ACE form for special letters) |
| Term | Indefinite contract, ended by the holder at any time |
| Transfer | AuthInfo password, valid 30 days, single use |
| After deletion | Redemption Grace Period to the 31st day |
| Provider gone | TRANSIT, one month to decide |
How big .de is
DENIC calls itself the registry for “over 18 million registered domains”. Its monthly statistics, which count domains on the last day of each month, show 18,371,249 .de domains on 31 October 2026, up 729,432 on a year earlier, with growth in every month of 2026.
| Date | .de domains |
|---|---|
| 31 Dec 1994 | 1,714 |
| 31 Dec 1999 | 1,554,374 |
| 31 Dec 2004 | 8,359,807 |
| 31 Dec 2009 | 13,386,950 |
| 31 Dec 2014 | 15,812,107 |
| 31 Dec 2019 | 16,324,963 |
| 31 Dec 2024 | 17,660,887 |
| 31 Oct 2026 | 18,371,249 |
DENIC’s 2025 report adds that “12.2 per cent of all .de domains (approximately 2.15 million) are registered abroad”, led by the USA (31.3 per cent) and the Netherlands (12 per cent) How ccTLDs compare with all registrations is in the domain name market.
Transfers, deletion and TRANSIT
Moving a name between providers is a “provider transfer”. The holder asks the new provider and gives the password, which DENIC calls “the provider transfer password (AuthInfo)”. It “is valid for 30 days from the point in time at which it is deposited or issued and can only be used once”. A change of holder is separate: the old holder ends their contract and the new one applies with “documents that clearly identify them”.
When a registration ends, the name enters the Redemption Grace Period, which lasts “until the 31st day after the registration for the last Domain Holder ceased, until a point in time to be randomly chosen by DENIC on this 31st day.” Only the last holder, or someone they designate with the password, can recover it then.
TRANSIT protects holders whose provider stops looking after the name. DENIC calls it “a free service for all domain holders”; the domain “is not deleted immediately, but is temporarily managed directly by DENIC and cannot be registered by anyone else.” The holder has one month to move provider, delete the name or use DENICdirect; with no reply, DENIC deletes it. Cancelling only with your provider does not end the DENIC contract.
What to check before buying an existing .de name
First, ask whether a Dispute entry exists. It “takes effect for one year” and, while it stands, the domain cannot be transferred to anyone else. .de does not use UDRP; the Dispute entry is DENIC’s own mechanism. Second, plan the change of holder and the AuthInfo password before money moves, and remember the password lasts 30 days. Third, check the name’s age with the Domain Age Checker, which flags names that were dropped and re-registered. Whether a German extension helps local rankings is a separate question, covered in domain extension SEO.
For other country codes with their own rules, see the guides to .nz domains, .mx domains, .si domains and .ai domains.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to live in Germany to register a .de domain?
No. There is no residency rule. A holder outside Germany must name a German recipient for official or court documents only within two weeks of a request from DENIC, which follows a rights claim.
How much does a .de domain cost?
Providers set their own prices. DENIC’s direct service, DENICdirect, charges €79 a year including VAT (checked 1 November 2026), and DENIC says providers are generally cheaper.
Can a .de domain contain umlauts?
Yes. DENIC allows 93 extra letters, including ä, ö, ü and ß, so dänic.de is possible as well as daenic.de.
The takeaway A .de domain is open to anyone, sold through providers or DENICdirect, and protected by a Redemption Grace Period and TRANSIT. If you are buying an existing name, check for a Dispute entry and its age first, or browse aged domains on the SERPHeroes marketplace, where each listing shows its registry age.
