Objective To compare the effectiveness between a new hand-sewn intestinal anastomosis and stapled anastomosis during Roux-en-Y anastomosis of gastric cancer. Methods Retrospectively, we collected 200 gastric cancer patients who underwent radical distal or total gastrectomy from January 2014 to June 2017 in our hospital, and divided them into observation group (new hand-sewn anastomosis, n=100) and control group (stapled anastomosis, n=100) according to the type of anastomosis. The time and cost taken to perform the anastomosis, the incidence of postoperative complications (including anastomotic leakage, bleeding, and stenosis), and hospital stay were compared. Results The cost of anastomosis in the observation group was significantly lower than that of the control group [(194.1±13.5) RMB vs (5 270.3±852.7) RMB, P<0.001], and the time taken to perform was just slightly longer in the observation group [(8.34 ± 0.65) minvs (8.29±0.61 ) min, P=0.540], additionally the incidences between the observation group and the control group, in regards to anastomotic bleeding [0 (0/100) vs 3% (3/100), P=0.246], leakage [0 (0/100) vs 1% (1/100), P=1.000], stenosis [0 (0/100) vs 2% (2/100), P=0.497], and hospital stay [(18.8±7.4) d vs (19.2±6.2) d, P=0.175], showed no significant difference between the 2 groups. Conclusion The new hand-sewn anastomosis technology is safe and effective, easy to learn, and it can save money and time, which is worth promoting.