Digital vs sticker vignettes: what changed and why it matters

The vignette sticker is nearly extinct. In 2026 only Austria and Switzerland still sell one, and Austria's fire-red 2026 sticker is the last it will ever issue. Everywhere else on the vignette map, the permit is a record against your licence plate. That sounds like a small change in packaging. It isn't: it changes when your pass starts, what a single typo costs you, and what happens the day a stone cracks your windscreen.

Which countries still sell a vignette sticker in 2026?

Austria and Switzerland are the only two of Europe's eight vignette countries still selling an adhesive sticker in 2026, and in both the digital version sits right next to it at the same price. Czechia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria sell nothing you can glue to glass. Their vignettes exist only as an entry in a national register, tied to your plate and your country of registration.

For a driver planning a trip, that boils down to one habit: buy before you reach the border, and type carefully. The old ritual of pulling into the last petrol station, peeling the backing sheet and chasing air bubbles across the windscreen is on its way out. Few will mourn it.

Sticker or digital: the eight countries side by side

The table shows which vignette format each country sells in 2026 and when it went digital only, taken from each operator's own announcement. Where we could not find the switch date from an official source, we say so rather than guess. Prices and ordering sit on the country pages linked in the first column.

Checked September 2026 against each operator's announcements. Download this table as CSV.

What actually changes when a vignette goes digital?

A digital vignette belongs to a licence plate, while a sticker belongs to a windscreen, and nearly every practical difference follows from that one fact. Checks move from someone squinting at your glass to cameras reading your plate from a gantry, and there is nothing left to scrape off in February.

The upside shows when life happens to the car. ASFINAG points out that a broken windscreen no longer means buying a replacement vignette, and that drivers with interchangeable plates need one digital vignette for up to three vehicles instead of a sticker per car. Switzerland works the same way: BAZG says two cars sharing interchangeable plates each need a sticker, or together one e-vignette.

The downside is that a plate is less forgiving than glass. A sticker on the right car was valid whatever you believed the plate said. A digital vignette is valid only for the exact characters and country you entered, so one wrong letter buys a perfectly paid permit for somebody else's car. Or for nobody's.

What happens to Austria's vignette sticker in 2027?

Austria stops selling the vignette sticker after 2026: ASFINAG announced on 8 October 2025 that the fire-red 2026 sticker is the last colour it will issue, and from 1 February 2027 only the digital vignette exists. Nothing changes for this year. A red sticker bought in 2026 stays valid until 31 January 2027, like every Austrian annual vignette.

Most drivers have already moved on. ASFINAG says 75 percent of all annual vignettes are already digital, and it sells the digital version at about 3,500 outlets plus around 100 vending machines at 30 locations, on top of its online shop. So the petrol station before the border keeps selling vignettes in 2027. It just stops handing you something sticky. Durations and 2026 prices are on our Austria vignette page.

Should you pick the Swiss sticker or the e-vignette?

For most foreign drivers the Swiss e-vignette is the better pick, because it costs the same CHF 40 as the sticker and is valid the moment you pay. The Federal Council introduced it on 1 August 2023, and BAZG runs both formats in parallel with the same 14-month validity, from 1 December of the previous year to 31 January of the following one. The 2026 vignette, in either format, covers 1 December 2025 to 31 January 2027.

The Swiss sticker belongs to the vehicle. BAZG forbids peeling it off and moving it to another car, and a detached sticker is invalid. After a windscreen replacement BAZG will replace it free of charge, which is fair, but it is still an errand you did not plan. The e-vignette belongs to the plate: keep the plate and change the car, and it carries over automatically; keep the car and holder but change the plate, and you can move it yourself in the webshop. Change both and it is gone. The Switzerland vignette page covers which roads need it and which tunnels charge extra.

When does a digital vignette start working?

A digital vignette does not always start the moment you pay, and Austria is where this catches people out. ASFINAG states that a 2-month or annual digital vignette bought online becomes valid only on the 18th day after purchase, because of the consumer withdrawal period. The 1-day and 10-day vignettes are not affected.

A sticker never had that quirk. You bought it, you stuck it, you drove. So if your habit was grabbing an annual Austrian sticker at the border in July, the digital version wants you to plan about three weeks ahead, or to take a 10-day pass for this trip. Switzerland has no delay at all, BAZG says the e-vignette is valid immediately after purchase. The other six countries each set their own start-date rules, and the pages for Czechia and Slovenia show how far ahead you can schedule a start. For all eight side by side, including when each vignette runs out, see our guide to when a vignette starts.

What goes wrong with digital vignettes?

Nearly every digital vignette problem is a typing problem: a wrong character in the plate, the wrong country of registration, or a start date one day off. The register cannot see your car, only the record, and it has no sense of humour about an O typed as a zero.

Three habits fix most of it. Copy the plate from the registration document, not from memory. Check the country, especially on a car registered somewhere other than where you live. And open the confirmation email before you leave the car park, because that email is now your only receipt; there is nothing on the glass to prove anything.

Hire cars add a twist, since you may not know the plate until you are standing at the desk; our guide to vignettes for a rental car covers that. Towing a caravan through Switzerland is another one, because the trailer needs its own vignette there, as our motorhome and trailer guide explains. And if a check finds nothing on your plate, our guide to driving without a vignette lists what each country charges.

How do you sort it before you go?

Buy digital, buy before the border, and check the plate twice. You can do that on each national operator's site at the state fee, one portal and one language per country. Or order your official digital vignette through Vignettera for every country on your route in one go, with the state fee and our service fee shown separately before you pay, registered against your plate and confirmed by email. Not sure which countries your route crosses? Start with our list of which European countries need a vignette.

Digital vs sticker vignette FAQ