The Austrian vignette in 2026: prices and which one to buy
Driving south from Germany? Austria charges a vignette for motorways and expressways, and 2026 is the last year of the sticker version.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
Which vignette pays off for your trips
Cheapest
10-day vignette: €25.60
| 1-day vignettes | €38.40 |
| 2-month vignette | €64 |
| annual vignette | €106.80 |
Assumption: motorway only on the way there and back, 2 trips.
Any car using Austria's motorways and expressways needs a vignette issued by ASFINAG, the state motorway company. The 2026 prices have applied since 1 December 2025 and include 20 per cent Austrian VAT: €9.60 for one day, €12.80 for ten days, €32.00 for two months and €106.80 for the year. Motorbikes pay €3.80, €5.10, €12.80 and €42.70. The 2026 annual vignette is valid from 1 December 2025 up to and including 31 January 2027. One rule catches many visitors: bought online, a one-day or ten-day vignette can start immediately, but a two-month or annual vignette only becomes valid on the 18th day after purchase, because consumers have a right to withdraw. 2026 is also the last year ASFINAG sells the windscreen sticker; from 2027 only the digital vignette, linked to the number plate, will exist.
2026 prices
| Vignette | Car | Motorbike | Validity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 day | €9.60 | €3.80 | one calendar day, digital only |
| 10 days | €12.80 | €5.10 | ten consecutive days |
| 2 months | €32.00 | €12.80 | two months from the start date |
| Year 2026 | €106.80 | €42.70 | 1 Dec 2025 to 31 Jan 2027 |
Prices come from the ASFINAG vignette page, the validity of the annual vignette from the official 2026 leaflet. The vignette applies to vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes; heavier vehicles pay a distance-based toll with an on-board unit instead.
Choosing the right one
What matters is the number of days you actually drive on Austrian motorways, not how long you stay. A week by a lake, reached by motorway and left by motorway, means two motorway days. Two one-day vignettes cost €19.20, a ten-day vignette €12.80, so for any trip longer than one day that fits in ten days, the ten-day vignette wins; for our holiday week the comparison picks the 10-day vignette at €12.80.
Frequent travellers get a different answer. Ten two-day trips come out cheapest as the annual vignette at €106.80, and fourteen three-day trips as the annual vignette at €106.80. Divide €106.80 by €12.80 and you get just over eight ten-day vignettes, so the annual vignette wins from the ninth trip. Because the 2026 vignette runs to the end of January 2027, the first ski weekends of 2027 still count.
Which vignette pays off for your trips
Cheapest
10-day vignette: €25.60
| 1-day vignettes | €38.40 |
| 2-month vignette | €64 |
| annual vignette | €106.80 |
Assumption: motorway only on the way there and back, 2 trips.
Digital or sticker
The digital vignette is tied to your number plate and checked by plate recognition. It can be bought online, in the ASFINAG app or at sales points. The sticker vignette belongs to the windscreen it is stuck on, and the official leaflet warns that a sticker kept loose, in the glove box or on a holder, is not valid. For 2026 both exist side by side for the last time; from the 2027 vignette year only the digital form will be sold.
The 18-day rule for online purchases
Annual and two-month vignettes bought online become valid on the 18th day after purchase at the earliest. ASFINAG gives online buyers fourteen days to withdraw and only activates the vignette after that. One-day and ten-day vignettes can be valid immediately, and stickers bought at a sales point are valid straight away. If you have to leave tomorrow and have no annual vignette yet, a ten-day vignette covers the first trip.
Buying and fitting it: details from the leaflet
The digital vignette is bought on shop.asfinag.at or in the free ASFINAG app in four steps: choose car or motorbike, choose the duration, enter the country of registration, your plate number and an email address, pick the start date and pay. A typo in the plate makes the vignette useless for your car, so check it twice; German plates are entered with the district letters first, as on the plate. One digital vignette covers up to three vehicles sharing interchangeable plates, and with a subscription the annual vignette renews automatically until cancelled. The 18 days consist of the 14-day right of withdrawal plus three days allowed for post; businesses are not subject to the delay. Sticker and digital vignettes are sold at around 6,000 sales points, including petrol stations, tobacconists, motoring clubs and toll stations. A sticker goes on the inside of the windscreen, ideally top left or behind the rear-view mirror, clearly visible and not on the tinted strip; on a motorbike it goes on a fixed part such as the fork, never on a pannier. ASFINAG gives the network as about 2,278 kilometres of motorways and expressways.
Routes with their own toll
A few Alpine routes are excluded from the vignette because they charge a section toll; the 2026 leaflet lists Brenner, Arlberg, Tauern and Katschberg, Bosruck, Karawanken and Gleinalm. The vignette does not cover them. ASFINAG sells a digital section toll for these; prices are on its site and change at the turn of the year.
For drivers based in Germany
Cars still use German motorways without any vignette, so a trip to Austria is one of the few road charges German residents pay regularly. Budget it alongside the fixed costs of the car: vehicle tax and the MOT (HU). Austria also has its own traffic fines and tolerances; every calculator on this site, including the fine calculator, covers offences in Germany only.
Checks and driving without a vignette
Austria checks the vignette, including automatically by number plate. Driving without one means paying a substitute toll (Ersatzmaut). ASFINAG publishes the current amount in its toll regulations; we do not state it here because we have not verified the 2026 figure in the official document. Buying the vignette before the first motorway slip road is the simpler path.