Purpose: We investigated the safety and efficacy of biodegradable polymer drug-eluting stents (BP-DES) versus second-generation durable polymer drug-eluting stents (DP-DES) in a follow-up period of 5 years. Methods: A meta-analysis was performed using data from the PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases. The primary endpoint was target lesion failure (TLF), a composite endpoint of safety and efficacy, which included cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction (MI), and clinically indicated target lesion revascularization (TLR). Secondary endpoints were all-cause death, MI, TLR, definite or probable stent thrombosis (ST), and definite or probable very late ST. In addition, we performed subgroup analyses based on patient and stent characteristics. Results: Nine randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in 11,817 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Compared with second-generation DP-DES, BP-DES was not associated with increased risk of TLF (odds ratio (OR) 1.06, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 0.94–1.20; p = 0.33), all-cause death (OR 1.04, [0.92–1.18], p = 0.49), myocardial infarction (OR 0.97, [0.83–1.13], p = 0.67), target lesion revascularization (OR 1.08, [0.94–1.23], p = 0.27), definite or probable stent thrombosis (OR 0.85, [0.66–1.11], p = 0.24), or definite or probable very late stent thrombosis (OR 0.86, [0.58–1.26],p = 0.43). Furthermore, the subgroup analyses did not reveal any statistically significant differences between the stent groups. Conclusion: At 5 years of follow-up, the safety and efficacy of BP-DES are clinically comparable to those of second-generation DP-DES. © 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.