The present study aims to develop a bi-objective mathematical model to determine risk-based inspection programs for reducing the total costs as well as the risk arisen. The main objective of this paper is to determine the number and type of inspection techniques to be done in each time period. The NSGA II and MOPSO meta-heuristic algorithms both have been applied to solve the problem. To compare the results of these two algorithms and to select the most efficient algorithm, 7 indices in two categories are implemented. In the first category, the means of the first and second objective functions and in the second category, the indices of comparison of multi objective algorithms have been evaluated. The results of the comparisons of these indices using TOPSIS method show the high efficiency of MOPSO algorithm in solving the presented problem. (C) 2020 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.