Abstract Background The effect of dialysis modality on the survival of end-stage renal disease patients is a major public health interest. Methods In this retrospective cohort study, all adult end-stage renal disease patients receiving dialysis treatment in Sabah between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2017 as identified from the Malaysian Dialysis and Transplant Registry were evaluated and followed up through December 31, 2018. The endpoint was all-cause mortality. The observation time was defined as the time from the date of dialysis initiation after the onset of end-stage renal disease to whichever of the following that came first: date of death, date of transplantation, date of last follow-up, date of recovered kidney function, or December 31, 2018. Weighted Cox regression was used to estimate the effect of dialysis modality. Analyses were restricted to patients with complete data on all variables. Results 1,837 patients began hemodialysis and 156 patients started with peritoneal dialysis, yielding 7,548.10 (potential median 5.48 years/person) and 747.98 (potential median 5.68 years/person) person-years of observation. 3.1% of patients were lost to follow-up. The median survival time was 5.8 years (95% confidence interval: 5.4, 6.3) among patients who started on hemodialysis and 7.0 years (95% confidence interval: 5.9, indeterminate) among those who started on peritoneal dialysis. The effect of dialysis modality was not significant after controlling for confounders. The average hazard ratio was 0.80 (95% confidence interval: 0.61, 1.05) with hemodialysis as a reference. Conclusion There was no evidence of a difference in mortality between hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.