Objective To assess the diagnostic value of MRI and Bone Scan (BS) for osseous metastases in patients with breast cancer. Methods The trials were searched from PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CBM, CNKI and VIP; the Criteria for inclusion and exclusion were based on the standard for diagnosis tests. Meta-Disc software (Version 1.4) was used for data analysis; and the area under curve (AUC) of SROC was calculated. Results A total of 5 researches involving 329 patients were included. The sensitivity of MRI and BS were 0.99 (0.97, 1.00) and 0.93 (0.88, 0.97) respectively; the specificity for MRI and BS were 0.99 (0.95, 1.00) and 0.86 (0.79, 0.92) respectively; and the AUC of SROC curve for MRI and BS were 0.993 6 and 0.967 5 respectively. Conclusion MRI can be regarded as an effective and feasible method for osseous metastases in breast cancer.