A method for packet forwarding based on equal-cost multi-path and a network device, in order to resolve problems that are caused by inconsistent forwarding paths for packets in two directions of a same service flow in an equal-cost multi-path scenario. A first network device performs calculation on characteristic information in a packet using a hash algorithm to obtain a hash value, determines, according to a correspondence between hash values and path identifiers that is acquired in advance, a path identifier corresponding to the hash value, and forwards the packet to a second network device through a path that corresponds to the path identifier, where the path is one of the N equal-cost paths. There exist N equal-cost paths for packet forwarding between the first network device and the second network device. The same hash algorithm is configured on the two network devices respectively.