Over the past few years, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia and Bulgaria have each switched from a physical sticker on the windscreen to a vignette linked digitally to your number plate. Below, see exactly when this happened in each country and how the roadside check works.
A sticker vignette is a physical label you stick to the inside of your windscreen. During a check, an officer or camera simply checks whether the sticker is present and valid. A digital vignette (also called an e-vignette) has no physical form at all. It's simply an entry in a central database, linked to your number plate. There is nothing to stick on or show: at a check, your number plate is read automatically and matched against that database.
All 9 countries on this site check digital vignettes via ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition). Cameras above or beside the motorway photograph every passing number plate and compare it instantly with the database of registered vignettes. If your plate is validly registered, nothing visible happens: you simply drive on, with no barrier and no need to stop. If there is no valid registration, this is flagged for further processing, sometimes backed up by spot checks from police or a roadside enforcement service.
Because the check is based on your number plate, it's essential to enter it correctly when you buy your vignette. A typo can mean the system fails to recognise your car as covered, even though you've genuinely paid.
Not every country switched at the same time, and not every country dropped the sticker straight away. The timeline below sets out the key moments.
Hungary was one of the first European countries to introduce a fully electronic vignette: the e-matrica, linked to the number plate. Since then, there has been no physical sticker for the standard vignette in Hungary.
From 1 December 2015, Slovakia introduced the electronic eZnamka system alongside the existing sticker. Since 2020, the physical sticker version is no longer available, so the vignette is now fully digital.
On 1 January 2019, Bulgaria replaced the physical sticker vignette with the digital e-vignette via the BGTOLL system. Vignettes still bought as a sticker in late 2018 remained valid until their expiry date.
Since 1 January 2021, Czechia has used the electronic e-dálniční známka. Sales of the new digital vignettes already started on 1 December 2020, so the transition ran smoothly.
Slovenia introduced the digital e-vinjeta on 1 December 2021, replacing the physical sticker that had been standard there for decades.
Since 1 August 2023, an electronic e-vignette exists alongside the classic sticker vignette, linked to the number plate rather than to the vehicle itself. Switzerland currently offers both versions side by side; via EuropeVignettes.eu you always buy the digital version.
ASFINAG introduced the digital vignette option back in 2018, alongside the familiar sticker. Both versions still exist side by side today: the sticker for vignette year 2026 was the last physical edition planned, and from vignette year 2027 only the digital version will be available. Via EuropeVignettes.eu you already get the digital version now, linked to your number plate.
Note on Switzerland and Austria: these are currently the only two of our 9 countries where the physical sticker version still exists (temporarily) alongside the digital vignette. If you buy via EuropeVignettes.eu, you always receive the digital, number-plate-linked version, so you never need to stick anything on, not even in these two countries.
Digital vignettes are simpler for both drivers and road authorities: no sticker that peels off or gets damaged during a windscreen repair, no hassle when a number plate changes after a car is sold, and for the road authority, a system that makes fraud with fake or reused stickers almost impossible. On top of that, a digital vignette can become active immediately after purchase and registration, with no need to stop anywhere for a physical sticker.
View all countries and order your vignette, linked directly to your number plate. No sticker needed.
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