How to register a .de domain: requirements, price and transfer

A .de domain is the country code domain of Germany. Anyone can register one, wherever they live: you do not need a German address, a German company or a German contact person. At LJPc hosting a .de domain costs €14.99 a year excluding VAT, with DNS management included, and you order or transfer it in the customer portal.

Below you can read when a .de domain makes sense, what DENIC asks of you as the holder, what a .de domain costs and how to register one or transfer it to us. Everything about DENIC itself, such as the check of your details, the WHOIS and disputes, is covered in what is DENIC.

What is a .de domain?

.de is the country code domain of Germany. The register of all .de names is kept by DENIC, a cooperative of German providers based in Frankfurt am Main. According to DENIC, the 18 millionth .de domain was registered in June 2026. You always register a .de domain through a provider such as LJPc hosting, which records the registration with DENIC and passes on changes to your details.

A domain for Germany: when should you choose .de?

A country code domain tells visitors and search engines which country your website is meant for. According to Google's guidelines for multi-regional websites, a country code domain such as .de is a strong signal that a website is aimed at that country. A .de domain is therefore the right fit for a website for German customers.

To redirect a second domain to your main site properly, see redirect a domain to another website. If you also target Belgium, how to register a .be domain explains the rules there.

Who can register a .de domain?

Anyone, wherever they live: individuals, associations, small businesses and large companies. DENIC only requires you to have full legal capacity, because the registration is a binding contract. You do not need a German address or a German contact person. These are the details DENIC asks of every holder:

• your full name, or the name of your organisation including its legal form, such as Ltd or GmbH;
• a street address (a PO box is not enough);
• an email address;
• a phone number.

Those details must be correct and complete. Since 6 December 2025 they are also checked: your provider verifies your email address, and your name and address are checked automatically. What happens if that check fails is covered in what is DENIC.

.de works on a first come, first served basis. DENIC does not check whether you have a right to a name. You are responsible for making sure your name does not infringe anyone else's trademark or name rights, so look into that before you register.

What are the rules for a .de name?

• Length. 1 to 63 characters, not counting the .de extension.
• Characters. The letters a to z, the digits 0 to 9 and the hyphen. A hyphen cannot be the first or last character of the name.
• Umlauts and accents. Letters such as ä, ö, ü, ß and é are allowed too.

The full rules, such as which other letters are allowed and how a name with umlauts is converted, are in what is DENIC.

How much does a .de domain cost at LJPc?

A .de domain costs €14.99 a year at LJPc hosting, excluding VAT. You pay the same amount when you transfer an existing .de domain to us, which covers your first year with us. The order wizard shows the price before you order, and our domain names page lists the current prices of all extensions.

You add hosting for your website and email as you need it. You can also choose DNS management only, or redirect the domain to another website. Our packages are on the web hosting page.

How to register a .de domain at LJPc

1. Log in at portal.ljpc.nl and click Add a website on the dashboard, or open the order wizard directly. No account yet? Create one first.
2. Choose I am looking for one or want to register one and type the name followed by .de, for example yourcompany.de. You see straight away whether it is available and what it costs a year, with other extensions next to it.
3. Select the .de domain and then choose what it should do: a hosting package, DNS management only, a redirect package, or a server or hosting space you already have with us.
4. In the cart, check the Registration contact: the details that put the domain in your name at DENIC. Make sure it includes a street address and a phone number. Nothing else is needed for .de: the cart asks for no extra details.
5. Accept the terms and conditions and complete your order. We then take care of the registration with DENIC.

All options in the order wizard are explained in register a domain and link it to your hosting. If the name you want is taken, domain backorder explains how to claim it for the moment it becomes available.

Transfer your .de domain to LJPc

You transfer a .de domain with a transfer code, which DENIC calls the AuthInfo. You request it from your current provider. The code is valid for up to 30 days, and if it is correct, the domain moves straight away. A .de domain has no transfer lock that you need to switch off first.

1. Is your website or email moving too? Set them up with us first, because after the transfer the name servers of your domain point to LJPc. See migrate your website to LJPc.
2. Request the AuthInfo from your current provider.
3. Open the order wizard, choose I already have one at another registrar, enter your .de domain and choose Transfer to LJPc. Enter the AuthInfo. The portal checks right away whether the transfer can go ahead with that code.
4. Choose hosting or DNS management only and complete your order. We start the transfer and you follow its status in the portal.

To follow the transfer step by step, see transfer your domain to LJPc. If your current provider does not cooperate or no longer exists, DENIC can send you the code by letter; what is DENIC explains how. Would you rather keep your .de domain with your current provider? Then link it to your hosting with us as described in point a domain at another provider to LJPc hosting.

What LJPc takes care of for your .de domain

• Renewed automatically every year. At DENIC a .de domain has no expiry date; with us it runs per year and we renew it automatically as long as your subscription runs. To stop, see cancel a domain or website.
• DNS and DNSSEC. Your domain gets our name servers ns1.ljpc.network, ns2.ljpc.network and ns3.ljpc.network, and we switch on DNSSEC automatically. How that protection works is explained in what is DNSSEC.
• Your details under your control. You update the holder, address and phone number yourself in the portal, as described in manage your domain's WHOIS data. If the domain needs to go into someone else's name, see change the owner of a domain.
• Domain mail in your portal. The email address on your domain is an address of your customer portal, ending in @inbox.ljpc.nl. A request to confirm your details therefore arrives under Inbox in the portal.
• Your transfer code when you leave. If your .de domain moves to another provider, our team arranges the AuthInfo for you through a support ticket. What else is involved is covered in get your transfer code and transfer your domain.

Your .de domain has been cancelled or deleted?

If your .de domain is deleted, for example because you cancel it, the name is not released straight away. A protected period of 30 days follows, during which only you, or someone you appoint, can register the domain again. After that, anyone can register it. What the statuses of your domain in the portal mean is explained in expired domain or quarantine.