Our findings suggested that the pooled diagnostic accuracy of miR‐101‐3p for HCC (SROC: 0.86 (95% CI: 0.82–0.89); sensitivity and specificity were 78.0% (95% CI: 65.0–88.0%) and 79.0% (95% CI: 0.67–88.0%), respectively), which showed a slightly higher diagnostic value than AFP. Here, AFP is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.