The invention belongs to the technical field of preparation of foam metal materials, and particularly relates to application of sago as a pore former, a pore former and a method for preparing foam metal through the pore former. In view of the problems that existing pore formers used for preparing foam metal are high in cost, poor in pore-forming effect, difficult to move and the like, the invention provides the application of sago as the pore former during preparation of foam metal, and further provides the pore former and the method for preparing the foam metal. Metal powder and the pore former of sago are added into a binder to be mixed, then compacted into a billet, demolded and dried; pre-sintering is conducted; and the foam metal is obtained through sintering. The pore former of sagois good in pore-forming effect, easy to remove, is safe and environmentally friendly. The method for preparing foam materials through sago is simple in process, high in cost performance, free of environment pollution, prepared foam steel, foam titanium and foam copper have the advantages of being controllable in pore size, porosity, pore shape and the like, and the pore former and method have goodapplication prospects in the aspects of energy absorption control, biology and filtration separation.