When does a .at domain expire and drop?
- Expiry to drop
- 56 days
- Grace
- None
- Redemption
- None
- Pending delete
- 56 days
A cancelled .at is released about 56 days after cancellation. There is no grace and no redemption: the name is locked in a cool-down shown as pending delete for the whole period, and nobody can recover it, not even its holder. Then it is released. .at is the country code of Austria, run by nic.at, and open worldwide.
Calculate a .at drop dateThe .at timeline, stage by stage
The single stage a cancelled .at passes through before release.
| Stage | Window | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Cool-down (pending delete): about 56 days | Day 0 to 56 after expiry | The name has been cancelled and is locked. Nobody can renew, restore or register it during this period, including its previous holder. At the end it is released and open to anyone. |
| Released: registrable by anyone | From about day 56 | The name leaves the registry's deletion pipeline and returns to the public pool, registrable at the standard price on a first-come basis through any registrar. Availability monitoring exists to catch this moment. |
.at at a glance
- Registry
- nic.at
- Backend
- nic.at
- Type
- ccTLD
- Country
- Austria
- Delegated
- 1988-01-20
- DNSSEC
- Yes
- IDN
- Yes
- Restrictions
- Open
- Label length
- 1–63 chars
- Pending delete
- 56 days
- Expiry to drop
- 56 days
No way back, then release
When a .at is cancelled, it is locked for about 56 days and shows pending delete. Unlike most registries, there is no stage in which the holder can still renew or restore it.
That makes the whole wait predictable: once a .at enters pending delete, it will be released at the end of the cool-down. For someone watching a name, that is the most certain drop signal of any registry.
Who runs .at, and since when
.at is the country code of Austria, delegated in 1988 and run by nic.at.
The cool-down comes from the registry's published FAQ for holders, and our engine re-verifies the stage against the live record.
How to register a .at domain
A .at is open to anyone worldwide with no Austrian presence requirement, directly or under categories such as co.at and or.at.
- Open registration: anyone worldwide can hold a .at domain, with no local-presence requirement.
- Register through any accredited registrar; the registry sells wholesale, not direct to the public.
- Labels run up to 63 characters using letters, digits and hyphens, never starting or ending with a hyphen.
- Registration is annual and renewable; an unrenewed name enters the deletion timeline below.
Renew a .at you care about before its renewal date: once it is cancelled, there is no grace in which to change your mind.
.at technical profile
How .at publishes registration data, secures its zone, and handles non-Latin names.
WHOIS lookups
Registration data for a .at domain is queryable over WHOIS at whois.nic.at. The registry does not publish an RDAP service in the IANA bootstrap, so status and dates are read from WHOIS, which is what our monitoring reads.
DNSSEC
The .at registry supports DNSSEC, so a domain can publish DS records and let resolvers cryptographically validate its DNS answers against tampering.
Internationalized names
The .at registry supports internationalized domain names, so labels in non-Latin scripts register as punycode alongside ordinary ASCII names.
- WHOIS
- whois.nic.at
The registry signs the .at zone for DNSSEC and supports German umlauts as internationalized names. A cancelled name shows pending delete on its WHOIS record for the whole cool-down.
Is .at a good domain?
Where .at fits, and its trade-off.
An Austrian address
For a business serving Austria, .at is the extension customers expect and trust.
A word as well as a country
Because "at" is an English word, .at also suits short phrases like meet.at or look.at.
Cancellation is final
With no grace or redemption, a mistaken cancellation cannot be undone, so renewal discipline matters more than on most registries.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about .at domains.
What is a .at domain?
.at is the country code top-level domain of Austria, delegated in 1988 and run by nic.at. It is open to register worldwide.
How long does it take for a cancelled .at to drop?
About 56 days. The whole period is a cool-down shown as pending delete, and the name is released at the end of it.
Can I get my cancelled .at back?
No. There is no grace or redemption on .at: once it is cancelled it stays locked until it is released, and then anyone can register it, including you.
What is the best way to get a .at that is expiring?
Watch it. Once it shows pending delete the release is certain, so you can plan for the end of the cool-down.