.de is Germany’s country-code TLD, operated by DENIC. It’s the largest ccTLD in Europe and the second-largest in the world after .cn. DENIC requires every .de domain to have an administrative contact (admin-c) with a postal address inside Germany.
Registry policy
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Registry | DENIC |
| Registration period | 1 year (registry policy) |
| Renewal grace period | None at registry level; renewals must complete before expiry |
| Redemption period | 30 days after expiry, recovery fee applies |
| Transfer lock | DENIC AuthInfo (auth code) required for every transfer |
Eligibility
Open globally, but every.de requires:
- An admin contact with a postal address inside Germany.
- A registrant anywhere in the world.
Features
- WHOIS privacy. Limited. DENIC publishes minimum required data and doesn’t allow the typical proxy-style WHOIS privacy.
- DNSSEC. Supported.
- IDN. Supported (German diacritics like
ä,ö,ü,ßaccepted). - Auth (EPP) code. DENIC calls it AuthInfo. Issued instantly from the domain panel.
Things to know
DENIC checks that the nameservers respond authoritatively for the domain before the registration finalises. If the NS aren’t reachable or aren’t returning the SOA for the domain, the registration is rejected. Set up DNS first, then register.Need a hand?
Open a ticket
Best for anything that needs an account check or a config change on our end.
Live chat
Faster for quick questions during business hours.