BACKGROUND Pancreatic cancer is difficult to be diagnosed early clinically, while often leads to poor prognosis. If optimal personalized treatment plan can be provided to pancreatic cancer patient at an earlier stage, this can greatly improve overall survival (OS). Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are a collective term for various types of tumor cells present in the peripheral blood (PB), which are formed by detachment during the development of solid tumor lesions. Most CTCs undergo apoptosis or are phagocytosed after entering the PB, whereas a few can escape and anchor at distal sites to develop metastasis, increasing the risk of death for patients with malignant tumors. AIM To investigate the significance of CTCs in predicting the prognosis of early pancreatic cancer patients. METHODS The PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Biology Medicine, and ChinaInfo databases were searched for articles published through December 2022. Studies were considered qualified if they included patients with early pancreatic cancer, analyzed the prognostic value of CTCs, and were full papers reported in English or Chinese. Researches were selected and assessed using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale criteria. We used a funnel plot to assess publication bias. RESULTS From 1595 publications, we identified eight eligible studies that collectively enrolled 355 patients with pancreatic cancer. Among these original studies, two were carried out in China; three in the United States; and one each in Italy, Spain, and Norway. All eight studies analyzed the relevance between CTCs and the prognosis of patients with early-stage pancreatic cancer after surgery. A meta-analysis showed that the patients that were positive pre-treatment or post-treatment for CTCs were associated with decreased OS [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.93, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.197-3.126, P = 0.007] and decreased relapse-free/disease-free/progression-free survival (HR = 1.27, 95%CI: 1.137-1.419, P < 0.001) in early-stage pancreatic cancer. Additionally, the results suggest no statistically noticeable publication bias for overall, disease-free, progression-free, and recurrence-free survival. CONCLUSION This pooled meta-analysis shows that CTCs, as biomarkers, can afford reliable prognostic information for patients with early-stage pancreatic cancer and help develop individualized treatment plans.