This analysis provides the data foundation for strategic decisions about digitalising the public sector. Germany is currently investing around 108 million euros in a TYPO3-based Government Site Builder, a strong endorsement of the technology. In our article Austria + TYPO3: Smart Government Websites Following the German Model, we look at how Austria can build on this and take a smarter approach.
Table of Contents
Initial Situation
Directory gap exposed
Recommendations
National register, typology, audits
Drawbacks
Federalism, IT industry, vendor lock-in
Conclusion
Count first, plan later
The Initial Situation: Why This Analysis?
Anyone debating a "Federal CMS" or a central government platform first needs a clear answer to a seemingly trivial question: how many websites does the Austrian state actually operate?
The sobering answer: No one knows for sure.
This analysis does not close the directory gap; it makes it visible. Focused research turned up 5,627 documented web presences across the federal, provincial, and municipal levels. The true figure is likely several times higher.
5,627
Verified websites in the searchable register – from ministries to municipalities
12
Categories from federal administration and education to culture & media
0
Official registers – there is no central directory of public websites
Executive Summary
Before a "Federal CMS" or a central digital platform for the public sector can be meaningfully planned, a complete inventory must first be taken. You cannot consolidate what you do not know.
No central register of all public websites in Austria exists. This directory is based on focused research, and the true number of public web presences is likely several times higher than the 5,627 entries documented here.
The Austrian state's digital presence mirrors the country's federal structure exactly: decentralised, autonomous, fragmented. This is not a bug; it is a feature of the Austrian constitution. That structure does, however, pose significant challenges for discoverability, accessibility, and system-wide analysis.
224
Federal Administration
13 ministries plus subordinate agencies, thematic portals, and campaign websites
303
Provincial Administration
9 provinces with district authorities, provincial enterprises, and specialised portals
2,128
Municipalities
2,092 municipalities – the greatest challenge due to the lack of a central directory
2,935
Education & Science
Schools, universities, universities of applied sciences – the largest single sector
Federal Level: 13 Ministries, 224 Digital Touchpoints
The Ministerial Core Framework
Since March 2025, the Stocker federal government has comprised the Federal Chancellery and 13 federal ministries. Each operates a primary web presence, with one exception: the Ministry for Europe, Integration and Family sits within the Federal Chancellery and uses its domain.
| Ministry | Acronym | Official URL |
|---|---|---|
| Federal Chancellery | BKA | bka.gv.at |
| BM Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Care, Consumer Protection | BMASGPK | sozialministerium.gv.at |
| BM Education | BMB | bmb.gv.at |
| BM European and International Affairs | BMEIA | bmeia.gv.at |
| BM Finance | BMF | bmf.gv.at |
| BM Interior | BMI | bmi.gv.at |
| BM Justice | BMJ | bmj.gv.at |
| BM Women, Science and Research | BMFWF | bmfwf.gv.at |
| BM Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure | BMIMI | bmimi.gv.at |
| BM Defence | BMLV | bmlv.gv.at |
| BM Agriculture, Forestry, Climate, Environment | BMLUK | bmluk.gv.at |
| BM Economy, Energy and Tourism | BMWET | bmwet.gv.at |
| BM Housing, Art, Culture, Media and Sport | BMWKMS | bmwkms.gv.at |
Why this matters: every cabinet reshuffle tests the state's digital identity. Domain changes, URL redirects, and maintaining continuity for citizens all demand a well-considered governance strategy. Without clear standards, the result is dead links, orphaned content, and confused users.
The Subsite Ecosystem: Strategy Instead of Chaos
Behind every ministry sits a complex network of subsites, and the structure follows a clear logic:
Case Study: Ministry of Education – Decentralisation as a Principle
The Federal Ministry of Education (BMB) illustrates the complexity of the ecosystem:
Type A subsites of the Ministry of Education:
- 9 Boards of Education – one per province, each with its own web presence
- Federal school hostels – shared website on bslh.at
- Institute for Quality Assurance (IQS) – independent portal
- University Colleges of Teacher Education – nationwide network
- Central educational institutions – various specialisations
The sheer number of subsites is not clutter but a deliberate strategy: Type A subsites grant organisational autonomy, while Type B subsites create audience-specific communication channels with their own branding, which works far better than an overloaded main site.
Quantitative Synthesis: The Digital Footprint of the Federal Government
| ressort | subsites | gesamt |
|---|---|---|
| Federal Chancellery | 15 | 16 |
| BM Labour & Social Affairs | 15 | 16 |
| BM Education | 30 | 31 |
| BM European Affairs | 10 | 11 |
| BM Finance | 10 | 11 |
| BM Interior | 15 | 16 |
| BM Justice | 10 | 11 |
| BM Women & Science | 15 | 16 |
| BM Innovation & Mobility | 15 | 16 |
| BM Defence | 10 | 11 |
| BM Agriculture & Climate | 20 | 21 |
| BM Economy & Energy | 10 | 11 |
| BM Housing & Culture | 15 | 16 |
| Category | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Core Ministerial Websites | 13 |
| Subsites (Type A & B) | ~195 |
| Total Federal Administration | ~224 |
Provincial Level: Federalism in the Digital Space
Nine Provinces, Nine Digital Strategies
Austria's federal structure is mirrored directly in its digital landscape. Each province operates with a high degree of autonomy, and the result is a digital presence that is fragmented but diverse.
| Province | Main Website | Special Feature |
|---|---|---|
| Burgenland | burgenland.at | Smallest province |
| Carinthia | ktn.gv.at | Bilingual region (Slovenian) |
| Lower Austria | noe.gv.at | Largest province by area |
| Upper Austria | land-oberoesterreich.gv.at | Longest domain URL |
| Salzburg | salzburg.gv.at | City and province separated |
| Styria | steiermark.at | Second largest province |
| Tyrol | tirol.gv.at | Alpine region with tourism focus |
| Vorarlberg | vorarlberg.at | Westernmost province |
| Vienna | wien.gv.at | City and province in one |
Institutional Isomorphism: Similar Structures, Different Implementation
The digital architecture of the provincial administrations structurally resembles that of the federal level, a phenomenon organisational researchers call "institutional isomorphism": organisations in the same sector tend to develop similar structures.
The largest province relies on extensive decentralisation:
- 20 district authorities + 4 statutory cities
- NÖ Landeskliniken (Provincial Hospitals) – separate web presence for health
- NÖ Pflege- und Betreuungszentren (Care and Support Centres) – separate portal
- Numerous thematic portals for tourism, economy, culture
Estimated websites: ~50
Quantitative Inventory of the Provinces
| name | bezirke | subsites |
|---|---|---|
| Lower Austria | 24 | 25 |
| Upper Austria | 18 | 20 |
| Styria | 13 | 20 |
| Carinthia | 10 | 15 |
| Tyrol | 9 | 15 |
| Burgenland | 9 | 10 |
| Salzburg | 6 | 15 |
| Vienna | 1 | 20 |
| Vorarlberg | 4 | 10 |
| Province | Core Website | District Authorities | Further Subsites | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burgenland | 1 | 9 | 10 | 20 |
| Carinthia | 1 | 10 | 15 | 26 |
| Lower Austria | 1 | 24 | 25 | 50 |
| Upper Austria | 1 | 18 | 20 | 39 |
| Salzburg | 1 | 6 | 15 | 22 |
| Styria | 1 | 13 | 20 | 34 |
| Tyrol | 1 | 9 | 15 | 25 |
| Vorarlberg | 1 | 4 | 10 | 15 |
| Vienna | 1 | 1 | 20 | 22 |
Total Provincial Level: ~303 websites (94 district authorities + core portals + subsites)
Municipal Level: The Greatest Unknown
2,092 Municipalities – and No Directory
The baseline is precise: according to Statistics Austria, Austria had exactly 2,092 municipalities as of 1 January 2025. But this is where the problem begins.
There is no central, official, machine-readable directory of municipal websites. Neither the Austrian Association of Municipalities nor the provincial associations publish such a list, and the government portal oesterreich.gv.at offers no complete, searchable database.
This is not a technical footnote; it is a structural weakness in the national e-government infrastructure.
The existence of unofficial commercial directories (such as gemeinden.at) and community-maintained lists (such as those on Wikipedia) is a telling symptom: a market has sprung up because the state provides no official solution.
Fractal Complexity: The Subsite Problem Multiplies
Much like ministries and provinces, municipalities run subsites too, and they do so more than two thousand times over:
Typical subsites of larger municipalities:
- Stadtwerke (Public Utilities) – energy, water, waste
- Öffentlicher Verkehr (Public Transport) – city bus, regional train
- Wohnbaugesellschaften (Housing Associations) – municipal housing
- Wirtschaftsbetriebe (Economic Enterprises) – business parks, exhibition grounds
Each of these enterprises may operate its own web presence.
Systematically recording all of this across 2,092 organisations is impossible without a central data source. The complexity is fractal: the same challenges seen at the federal and provincial levels repeat themselves thousands of times over.
Searchable Directory: The Data Basis
As a practical outcome of this analysis, we have built a searchable directory of every public and semi-public website we identified:
| Category | Quantity | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Education & Science | 2,935 | 50.8% |
| Municipalities & Cities | 2,128 | 36.9% |
| Provincial Administration | 303 | 5.2% |
| Federal Administration | 224 | 3.9% |
| Health & Social Affairs | 75 | 1.3% |
| Other Categories | 107 | 1.9% |
| Total | 5,627 | 100% |
A REST API is available for programmatic access to the directory. The complete search interface with advanced filtering options can be found in the Tools section.
Regional Distribution
Of the 5,627 websites, 2,941 (52.3%) could be assigned to a specific province:
| bundesland | anzahl |
|---|---|
| Upper Austria | 895 |
| Lower Austria | 853 |
| Vienna | 475 |
| Salzburg | 420 |
| Tyrol | 221 |
| Styria | 64 |
| Carinthia | 56 |
| Burgenland | 55 |
| Vorarlberg | 47 |
Strategic Recommendations: What Needs to Happen Now
National Domain Register
Achievable in the short term: Central, machine-readable register of all public domains – managed by the Federal Chancellery or A-SIT. The foundation for any further digitalisation initiative.
Standardised Typology
Medium-term: Official classification of public websites (Type A/B/C model). Enables systematic analyses, compliance audits, and resource planning.
Automated Audits
Continuous: Web crawling for accessibility, security, and timeliness. Transparency dashboard for citizens. The basis for evidence-based policy.
The UK has created the most consistent example of a centralised government portal with gov.uk. In just 15 months (2013–2014), over 300 government agency websites were migrated to a single platform and 685 domains were shut down. The payoff: better discoverability, a consistent user experience, and more efficient administration. The USA, by contrast, offers only a signpost portal at usa.gov, while its 20,000-plus individual .gov domains remain decentralised.
The Drawbacks of Centralisation
The idea of a single, central web portal for all public bodies sounds appealing, but it comes with significant side effects:
Federalism & Autonomy
Austria is a federal state. The provinces and municipalities possess constitutionally guaranteed competencies – including their external representation. A central portal could be interpreted as an infringement on provincial sovereignty.
Regional IT Industry
Hundreds of Austrian IT companies, agencies, and freelancers depend on building public websites. A central system would consolidate this market sharply, in favour of a handful of large providers.
Vendor Lock-in
A single system means dependency on one provider. Maintenance contracts, licensing costs, and security updates would be negotiated centrally – granting corresponding market power to the provider.
Single Point of Failure
A central portal is a prime target for attacks. A successful cyberattack would not just hit one municipality; it could potentially take down every public service at once.
The solution is not a choice between "full centralisation" and "unchecked sprawl". A federated model, with common standards, central registration, and decentralised implementation, could combine the strengths of both approaches.
The first step towards this: A complete directory of what exists.
Concrete implementation strategies and technical architecture proposals can be found in our analysis Austria + TYPO3: Smart Government Websites Following the German Model.
Conclusion: Count First, Plan Later
The digital architecture of the Austrian public sector is complex, decentralised, and dynamic. The 5,627 web presences documented here are only a snapshot; the real landscape is many times larger.
"You can't manage what you can't measure."
— Peter Drucker
This analysis shows that before debating a "Federal CMS" or any central platform, Austria needs a comprehensive directory of what already exists. The first step in any digital transformation is transparency, not technology.
Decentralisation as a Principle
The Subsite as a Strategic Tool
The Critical Directory Gap
The way forward starts with a question no one can answer today: how many websites does the Austrian state operate? This analysis offers a first, systematic starting point.
Methodological Notes
We look at how Austria can build on Germany's 108-million-euro investment in TYPO3 and take a smarter approach in: Austria + TYPO3: Smart Government Websites Following the German Model