BackgroundRecent studies have shown that aspirin consumption may reduce the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but their correlation is still not fully understood. This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the correlation between aspirin consumption and HCC.MethodsA systematic literature search was conducted on PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases. The search period was from the establishment of the database to July 1, 2022 with no language restrictions.ResultsA total of 19 studies including three prospective studies and 16 retrospective ones with 2,217,712 patients were included. Compared with those who did not take aspirin, those who took aspirin had a 30% lower risk of HCC (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.70, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.63–0.76,I2= 84.7%,P< 0.001). Subgroup analysis showed that aspirin significantly reduced the risk of HCC by 19% in Asia (HR = 0.81, 95% CI 0.80–0.82,I2= 85.2%,P< 0.001) and by 33% (HR = 0.67, 95% CI 0.61–0.73,I2= 43.6%,P= 0.150) in Europe and the U.S with no significant difference. Moreover, in patients with HBV or HCV infection, aspirin reduced 19% and 24% of the risk of HCC, respectively. However, aspirin administration might increase risks of gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with chronic liver disease (HR = 1.14, 95% CI 0.99–1.31,I2= 0.0%,P= 0.712). Sensitivity analysis showed no significant difference of results after excluding individual studies, suggesting that the results were robust.ConclusionAspirin may reduce the risk of HCC in both healthy population and patients with chronic liver disease. However, attention should be paid to adverse events such as gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with chronic liver disease.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40001-023-01204-5.