The invention discloses a carrier, a preparation method thereof, a cobalt-based catalyst, and a preparation method and an application of the cobalt-based catalyst. The carrier is prepared by carrying out centrifugal spray drying on the mixture slurry of SiO2 powder or SiO2 powder and TiO2 powder, silica solution and ammonium hydroxide and roasting. The cobalt-based catalyst comprises the following components by weight percent: 5%-40% of Co, 0%-3% of MnO2, 0%-15% of ZrO2 and 55%-80% of carrier. The cobalt-based catalyst is uniform in particle size, large in specific surface area and aperture, high in metal dispersity, strong in wear resistance, stable in property under slurry reactor fischer-tropsch synthesis reaction, high in reactivity, low in selectivity of main by-product CH4, high in heavy hydrocarbon selectivity, low in cost and simple and convenient in preparation.