The invention relates to an environment-friendly artificial stone with low cost and high strength and a preparation method thereof, the artificial stone comprises the following raw materials in parts by mass: 60-80 parts of fritted sand; 10-30 parts of quartz powder; 9-14 parts of terephthalic unsaturated polyester resin; 0.6-1 parts of curing agent; 0.8-1 parts of coupling agent; 0.5-1 parts of pigment paste; 0.1-1 parts of pigment powder. The invention has advantages of: (1) using mine solid waste or waste materials as raw materials, and using blast-furnace gas and coke-oven gas recovered and purified in the productive process of the steel plant and coking plant as fuel, the production process is green and environment-friendly, which can recycle waste materials. (2) high strength, natural stripe, elegance appearance, green and environmental protection, and being recognized by global customers and promising in worldwide market.