Objective To compare the quality of life after laparoscopic and open surgery for gastric stromal tumor patients. Methods We collected the data of the patients undergoing the gastric stromal tumor surgery from May 2011 to August 2016 in West China Hospital of Sichuan University, and compared the basic data, complications, micturition time, hospital stay time, bleeding volume and hospitalization expenses. SF-36 scale was used to evaluate the quality of life. Then, SPSS 19.0 software was used for data analysis. Results Eighty nine patients involving 31 laparoscopic patients and 58 open surgery patients were included. There was no statistical significance in basic line between two groups. The laparoscopic group had shorter micturition time and hospital stay time, less intraoperative bleeding and lower hospitalization costs, the differences between two groups were statistically significant (P<0.05). But there were no significant differences between two groups in the operation time and postoperative complication rate. The SF-36 quality of life scale of laparoscopic group and open surgery group were 737.7±68.3 and 665.1±138.1, respectively. The laparoscopic surgery group had higher scores in validity (VT), social function (SF) and mental health (MH) than those in open surgery group with significant differences (P<0.05). Conclusion Laparoscopic surgery is safe and effective for the patients with stromal tumor. Patients in laparoscopic group have shorter recovery time and higher quality of life than open surgery group. Due to the limited of study design, more high quality studies are needed to verify above conclusion.