The purpose of the current study is to develop austenitic nickel-free stainless steels with lower chromium content and higher manganese and nitrogen contents. In order to prevent nickel-induced skin allergy, cobalt, manganese, and nitrogen were used to substitute nickel in the designed steel. Our results demonstrated that manganese content greater than 14 wt pct results in a structure that is in full austenite phase. The manganese content appears to increase the solubility of nitrogen; however, a lower corrosion potential was found in steel with high manganese content. Molybdenum appears to be able to increase the pitting potential. The effects of Cr, Mn, Mo, and N on corrosion behavior of Fe-16Cr-2Co-Mn-Mo-N high nitrogen stainless steels were evaluated with potentiodynamic tests and XPS surface analysis. The results reveal that anodic current and pits formation of the Fe-16Cr-2Co-Mn-Mo-N high nitrogen stainless steels were smaller than those of lower manganese and nitrogen content stainless steel.