The oncologic outcome of transoral robotic surgery (TORS) was comparable to radical open surgery. The TORS group showed a better functional recovery and quality of life (QOL) than the radical surgery group. Therefore, TORS was a valid treatment option as a minimally invasive surgery for selected patients with hypopharyngeal cancer.To affirm rapid functional recovery and improved QOL of patients who underwent TORS, which is a minimally invasive surgical technique.Between April 2008 and November 2011, 56 patients were enrolled in the study. During the study period, 30 patients underwent TORS and 26 patients underwent radical open surgery.In the TORS and radical surgery groups, the 3-year overall survival rate was 85% and 78%, respectively, and disease-free survival was 81% and 76%, respectively. Significant differences were not observed in the overall survival and disease-free survival rates. As regards postoperative functional recovery, the TORS group showed statistically better results for decannulation, swallowing, and hospitalization compared with the radical surgery group. On the University of Washington (UW)-QOL, the TORS group showed better results than the radical open surgery group in the domains of pain, activity, recreation, swallowing, speech, anxiety, and health-related QOL.