Abstract Functional materials prepared from natural resources arouse a great interest recently. Herein, a novel natural material based flame retardant chitosan phosphate acrylate (GPCS) containing phosphorus and acrylate structure has been prepared. Its effect on thermal properties and combustion behaviors of epoxy acrylate (EA) has been investigated. Microscale combustion calorimeter (MCC) data showed that GPCS reduced the peak heat release (PHRR) and total heat release (THR) of samples greatly, which meant that GPCS was efficient in reducing the flammability of EA. The results of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) exhibited that GPCS improved the thermal stability of materials at high temperature. Investigation of real time Fourier transform infrared (RT-IR) and thermogravimetric analysis/infrared spectrometry (TGA-IR) revealed that GPCS promoted the formation of char and reduced the release of combustible gas. Thermomechanical properties data showed that the storage modulus of samples increased then decreased with increasing GPCS content while the glass transition temperature continued reduced.