Which roads require the Austria vignette
Austria's motorways (Autobahnen, the A roads) and expressways (Schnellstrassen, the S roads) are built and operated by ASFINAG. Every car, campervan, van and motorcycle up to 3.5 tonnes technically permissible maximum mass needs a valid vignette to use them, even for a short stretch.
A handful of border sections are toll-free: the A1 between Walserberg and Salzburg-Nord, the A12 between Kiefersfelden on the German border and Kufstein-Sud, the A14 between Hörbranz and Hohenems in Vorarlberg, and the A26 Linzer Westring. Ordinary town and city roads are not tolled, but any other motorway or expressway junction requires a vignette.
Vehicles over 3.5 tonnes do not use the vignette at all; they are charged the separate, distance-based GO-Maut toll instead.
Vehicle categories and validity periods
ASFINAG prices multi-track vehicles (cars, vans and campervans up to 3.5 t) separately from single-track vehicles (motorcycles, motorcycles with a sidecar and three-wheelers), which carry a lower tariff of their own. Austria has no height or engine-size classes: the only distinction that changes the price is multi-track against single-track.
Four validity periods exist for 2026: a 1-day vignette, a 10-day vignette, a 2-month vignette and an annual vignette. The 1-day option is digital-only, sold since November 2023 and usable from 1 December 2023 onward, added for drivers who only cross Austria briefly. The annual vignette follows the Austrian vignette year, running from 1 December of the previous year to 31 January of the following year, so a 2026 annual vignette bought in good time covers over 14 months of driving.
Buying and activation
Since 2018 the digital vignette has been linked to the vehicle's licence plate instead of a windscreen sticker; a physical sticker is still sold in Austria but is not needed once you buy digitally. A single digital vignette registered to a transferable number plate can be used on up to three vehicles that share it.
Austrian distance-selling rules give consumers a right of withdrawal, and ASFINAG applies it by making a 2-month or annual vignette bought by a consumer in its own online shop valid only from the 18th day after purchase; the 1-day and 10-day vignettes and purchases at a fuel station or toll booth are unaffected. That waiting period does not apply when you order through Vignette ID, because the vignette is bought on commercial terms rather than as a consumer distance sale, so a 2-month or annual vignette can start on the date you need it.
You choose the start date at checkout, the vignette arrives by e-mail and in your account, and payment is by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay with no account sign-up required. The Flex add-on lets you change the registered licence plate after purchase for a fee.
Fines and enforcement
ASFINAG and the Austrian police enforce the vignette with automatic number-plate recognition cameras mounted over motorways and expressways, which check each passing plate against the vignette database, backed up by random roadside checks by ASFINAG staff and police.
A vehicle caught without a valid vignette is first billed a replacement toll (Ersatzmaut): since 1 January 2026 this is 200 euros for cars and vans up to 3.5 t and 100 euros for motorcycles, payable within a set deadline. If the replacement toll is not paid in time, the case is referred to administrative fine proceedings, where penalties of 300 to 3,000 euros can be imposed. If you realise you have entered a motorway without a vignette, buying one before your next journey on the network is the only way to become compliant again; it does not cover the trip already made.
Tolls not covered by the vignette
Several Alpine crossings are charged as separate section tolls on top of the vignette: the A9 Bosruck and Gleinalm tunnels, the A10 Tauern and Katschberg tunnels, the A11 Karawanken tunnel, the entire A13 Brenner motorway, and the S16 Arlberg tunnel. A vignette alone does not let you use these; you need a section-toll ticket as well.
Digital section-toll tickets for these tunnels and passes, sold as a single-trip or multi-trip pass, are available alongside the vignette on this page, so you can buy both together for a trip that crosses the Alps.
