What is .at?
.at has a second life online. Because of what the letters suggest, it's picked up a following for phrases like "look.at" and "meet.at", beyond Austria's borders. Legally it remains Austria's ccTLD.
A little context on Austria: the capital is Vienna, the main language is Austro-Bavarian German, the currency is the Euro (EUR) and the international dialing code is +43. It's landlocked.
Austria shares land borders with 8 countries, so the ccTLDs next door are .cz (Czechia), .de (Germany), .hu (Hungary), .it (Italy), .li (Liechtenstein), .sk (Slovakia), .si (Slovenia) and .ch (Switzerland).
IANA lists nic.at GmbH as the manager of .at, with an address in Austria. The registry's website is http://www.nic.at. 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, .at is served by 7 authoritative name servers, every one of them reachable over IPv6. It is also DNSSEC-signed: the root zone carries a DS record for .at, which lets validating resolvers check its answers cryptographically. Registration data is published over WHOIS (the WHOIS server is whois.nic.at).
.at FAQ
What country is .at?
.at is the country-code top-level domain for Austria, in Central Europe. Online it's also used for phrases like "look.at" and "meet.at".
What does .at mean?
Officially, .at is simply the ISO 3166-1 code for Austria. Online, it's also used for phrases like "look.at" and "meet.at" — a "domain hack" that uses the letters for what they spell.
What does .at mean in an email address?
Only that the sender's domain is registered under .at. Because .at is also used for phrases like "look.at" and "meet.at", it doesn't necessarily mean the person is in Austria.
Who owns the .at domain?
IANA lists nic.at GmbH as the manager of .at: it runs the registry and sets the rules for Austria's ccTLD. Individual .at names belong to whoever registers them.
Can I register a .at domain from the US?
It depends on nic.at GmbH's policy. Some ccTLDs are open to anyone in the world, while others require a local address, company or trademark. Check the registry (http://www.nic.at) or an accredited registrar before you buy.
Is .at DNSSEC-signed?
Yes. The root zone has a DS record for .at, so DNSSEC validation works all the way down from the root.
How do I look up who owns a .at domain?
Query the registry's registration data service: the WHOIS server is whois.nic.at. Many registrants use privacy services, so personal details may be hidden.
Sources
Data from IANA root zone version 2026102000. Last changed May 14, 2025. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
