Background <p>This study aimed to assess the effect of simple hysterectomy compared with radical hysterectomy on cancer-specific survival and overall survival for patients with early-stage cervical cancer.</p> Methods <p>A retrospective cohort study analyzed patients in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database with a diagnosis of early-stage cervical carcinoma (tumor size ≤2 cm, no lymph node metastasis, and no distant metastasis) from 2004 to 2015. After 1:1 propensity score-matching, the patients who underwent simple hysterectomy were compared those who had radical hysterectomy. All variables underwent propensity score-matching and were included in a multivariate COX regression analysis. The primary outcomes were cancer-specific survival and overall survival at the end of the follow-up period.</p> Results <p>The inclusion criteria was met by 5144 patients, of whom 2454 (47.7 %) underwent radical hysterectomy and 2690 (52.3 %) underwent simple hysterectomy. After propensity score-matching, the study enrolled 2116 patients in each group. There was no statistically significant difference in cancer-specific survival (hazard ratio [HR], 1.00; 95 % confidence interval [CI], 0.76–1.32; <i>p =</i> 0.985) or overall survival (HR, 0.90; 95 % CI, 0.76–1.08; <i>p =</i> 0.256) between the patients who underwent simple hysterectomy and those who underwent radical hysterectomy. Subgroup analysis did not show statistically significant differences in cancer-specific survival or overall survival according to hysterectomy type. Multivariate COX regression analysis showed that hysterectomy type was not an independent prognostic factor for cancer-specific survival (<i>p</i> = 0.707) or overall survival (<i>p</i> = 0.103).</p> Conclusion <p>Patients with early-stage cervical cancer could undergo less radical surgery without a negative effect on their oncologic outcomes.</p>