Miniature disk-shaped specimens have been used to evaluate the tensile properties of boiler steels 20, 12Ch1MF, 12Ch11V2MF and 16GNM at room temperature by using the small punch test. Conventional uniaxial tensile tests of standard cylindrical specimens from the same materials have been also performed for comparison. On the basis of comparative analysis a correlation between the maximum punch force and tensile strength has been obtained that allows accurate measurement of the tensile strength with the small punch test. It has been found that the yield strength of the materials could not be determined with sufficient accuracy by means of this test.