Most commercialized coronary stents are made of 316L stainless steels due to its good combination of proper-ties, and currently some new stents are made of cobalt-based alloy owing to its higher mechanical properties. However, the presence of high quantity of nickel and/or cobalt elements in these materials, which are known to trigger the toxic and allergic responses, has caused many concerns. Nickel-free austenitic stainless steels have been developed in order to solve these problems. In this paper, based on the development of a new Fe-Cr-Mn-Mo-N type high nitrogen nickel-free austenitic stainless steel, properties such as mechanical property, corrosion resistance in Hank s solution, and in vitro blood compatibility including the kinetic clotting time and the platelets adhesion, were investigated in comparison to the above two conventional materials, a 316L stainless steel and a Co-28Cr-6Mo alloy. The results showed that the new high nitrogen steel possessed better combination of mechanical properties, corrosion resistance and blood compatibility than those of 316L steel and the Co-28Cr-6Mo alloy, and can be a promising alternative material for manufacture of coronary stents.