Background Severity of liver cirrhosis plays an important role in determining the safe extents of hepatectomy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aim of this study was to investigate whether direct liver stiffness measurement can help surgeons to evaluate the severity of liver cirrhosis in HCC patients. Methods Overall, 119 HCC patients who underwent open hepatectomy were retrospectively studied. The severity of liver cirrhosis was histologically staged using the Laennec staging system. Direct liver stiffness measurement was performed during operation using a sclerometer device named LX-C Shaw hardmeter, and its efficacy in assessing the severity of liver cirrhosis was compared with that of transient elastography (TE) and cirrhotic severity scoring (CSS) previously proposed by our team. Results Liver stiffness measured by LX-C Shaw hardmeter was significantly correlated with the severity of liver cirrhosis. Spearman correlation coefficients for the correlation between the severity of liver cirrhosis and direct liver stiffness measurement, TE, and CSS were 0.751, 0.454, and 0.705, respectively (all P < 0.001). The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) of direct liver stiffness measurement were 0.891 for moderate cirrhosis and 0.944 for severe cirrhosis and superior to those of TE (0.735 and 0.776, respectively) and CSS (0.888 and 0.905, respectively). Conclusions Direct liver stiffness measurement is a useful method in evaluating the severity of liver cirrhosis in HCC patients.