Germany's home on the web
.de is Germany's country-code TLD and, by number of registrations, one of the largest ccTLDs on Earth, with well over 15 million names. German internet users strongly prefer it to .com, so for any business serious about the German market, a .de is close to mandatory.
The registry is DENIC eG, a cooperative in Frankfurt whose members are largely the registrars that sell .de names. That structure has kept .de famously stable and boring, in the best sense.
Good for
- Companies selling to German-speaking customers
- Local German brands and organizations
Watch out for
- German law (including strict privacy and imprint rules for websites) applies to your site's audience
- Popular short names are long gone
.de by the numbers
.de is the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Germany, a country in Western Europe.
Why .de? The letters come from Deutschland, the country's name in German.
A little context on Germany: the capital is Berlin, the main language is German, the currency is the Euro (EUR) and the international dialing code is +49.
Germany shares land borders with 9 countries, so the ccTLDs next door are .at (Austria), .be (Belgium), .cz (Czechia), .dk (Denmark), .fr (France), .lu (Luxembourg), .nl (Netherlands), .pl (Poland) and .ch (Switzerland).
IANA lists DENIC eG as the manager of .de, with an address in Germany. The registry's website is http://www.denic.de. ccTLD managers set their own policies — who can register, which second-level names exist, pricing to registrars — so those rules differ from country to country.
On the technical side, .de is served by 6 authoritative name servers, every one of them reachable over IPv6. It is also DNSSEC-signed: the root zone carries a DS record for .de, which lets validating resolvers check its answers cryptographically. Registration data is published over WHOIS (the WHOIS server is whois.denic.de).
.de FAQ
Who runs .de?
DENIC eG, a cooperative based in Frankfurt am Main whose members include many registrars.
Can non-Germans register .de domains?
Yes. .de is open to registrants outside Germany, though some registrars ask for extra contact details from foreign holders — check your registrar's requirements.
What country is .de?
.de is the country-code top-level domain for Germany, in Western Europe.
What is Germany's domain extension?
Germany's website extension is .de, its country-code top-level domain. The code comes from Deutschland, the country's name in German.
Is .de DNSSEC-signed?
Yes. The root zone has a DS record for .de, so DNSSEC validation works all the way down from the root.
How do I look up who owns a .de domain?
Query the registry's registration data service: the WHOIS server is whois.denic.de. Many registrants use privacy services, so personal details may be hidden.
Sources
Data from IANA root zone version 2026102000. Last changed October 21, 2026. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
