When does a .de domain expire and drop?
A deleted .de is released about 30 days later, after one redemption stage. Here is DENIC's timeline in full, plus who runs .de and how to register one.
A deleted .de is released about 30 days later. .de has no renewal grace and no pending delete: when the name is deleted it enters a 30-day Redemption Grace Period, and when that ends it becomes freely registrable at once. .de is the country code of Germany, operated by DENIC, the largest country-code registry in the world.
- Registry
- DENIC
- Backend
- DENIC
- Type
- ccTLD
- Country
- Germany
- Delegated
- 1986-11-05
- DNSSEC
- Yes
- IDN
- Yes
- Restrictions
- Open
- Label length
- 1–63 chars
- Redemption
- 30 days
- Expiry to drop
- 30 days
One stage, then straight back to the pool
.de is run by DENIC, which states plainly that there is no grace period. When a .de is deleted it enters the 30-day Redemption Grace Period immediately, and when that ends the name becomes freely registrable at once, with no pending-delete stage in between.
That makes .de one of the fastest and simplest lifecycles here: deletion, redemption, release. The absence of a grace and a pending delete is registry policy, not an approximation, so our engine models exactly those stages and no others.
Who runs .de, and since when
.de is the country code of Germany, delegated in 1986, and is operated by DENIC, a cooperative of German registrars and the largest ccTLD registry in the world.
DENIC bills registrars rather than registrants and runs a single-stage deletion process, which is why .de has neither a registry-level renewal grace nor a pending-delete window.
How to register a .de domain
A .de is open to anyone worldwide with no local presence requirement, though DENIC requires a valid administrative contact reachable in Germany. It is the default domain for anyone serving a German audience.
One-year minimum, registered through a DENIC member or reseller. Because there is no grace, an unrenewed name can enter redemption as soon as the registrar deletes it.
- Open registration: anyone worldwide can hold a .de 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.
The .de timeline, stage by stage
The single stage an unrenewed .de passes through before release. There is no grace and no pending delete.
| Stage | Window | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Redemption: about 30 days | Day 0 to 30 after expiry | Deletion has begun. Only the current registrant can recover the name now, typically by paying a restore fee on top of the renewal, and it cannot be registered by anyone else. A restore during this stage is a strong signal the name will not drop. |
| Released: registrable by anyone | From about day 30 | 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. |
.de technical profile
How .de publishes registration data, secures its zone, and handles non-Latin names.
WHOIS and RDAP
Registration data for every .de domain is queryable over RDAP at https://rdap.denic.de/ and legacy WHOIS at whois.denic.de, so status, dates and record changes are machine-readable, which is exactly what our monitoring reads.
DNSSEC
The .de registry supports DNSSEC, so a domain can publish DS records and let resolvers cryptographically validate its DNS answers against tampering.
Internationalized names
The .de registry supports internationalized domain names, so labels in non-Latin scripts register as punycode alongside ordinary ASCII names.
https://rdap.denic.de/
whois.denic.de
DENIC signs the zone for DNSSEC and was an early adopter of internationalized domains, so umlaut and eszett names have been registrable for years. Registration data is published over RDAP and WHOIS.
Is .de a good domain?
Where a .de is the obvious choice.
The German default
For any business serving Germany, .de is what customers expect and search for, and it carries strong local trust and regional SEO weight.
A vast, established market
With tens of millions of registrations, .de is a mature namespace: good names are scarce, but the extension itself is beyond question.
First-class umlauts
Long-standing IDN support means names with German characters work natively, which matters for local brands spelled with umlauts or eszett.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about .de domains.
When is a deleted .de released?
About 30 days after deletion. .de has no renewal grace and no pending delete: the name enters a 30-day Redemption Grace Period, and when that ends it is released for registration at once.
Why does .de have no grace or pending delete?
DENIC bills registrars, not registrants, and runs a single-stage process. When your registrar deletes the name the redemption clock starts that day, and release follows directly after it.
Do I need to be in Germany to register a .de?
No. Registration is open worldwide, though DENIC requires a valid administrative contact address in Germany.
Can I register a .de with umlauts?
Yes. DENIC has supported internationalized domain names for years, so names with German characters register natively as punycode.
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