YAlO3 (YAP) shows lower phonon energy than Y3Al5O12 (YAG), which implies a lower temperature can be obtained in Yb3+-doped YAP according to the single-frequency phonon model. Here, a 2% Yb3+: YAP crystal was refrigerated by anti-Stokes fluorescence and compared to YAG crystal with the same doping concentration in experiments. Yb3+ exhibited a broad spectral cooling range in YAP from 1020nm to 1070nm, which was broader than in YAG from 1020 nm to 1055 nm. A minimum achievable temperature (MAT) dropped to ~ 249.7 K at 1040 nm for Yb3+: YAP, which was lower than that of ~ 259.3 K obtained in 2% Yb3+: YAG. Further analysis predicted that the cooling limit of two crystals can reach ~167 K for Yb3+: YAP and ~171 K for Yb3+: YAG from room temperature. This work exhibited the excellent cooling properties of Yb3+: YAP compared with Yb3+: YAG in experiment and provided a unique perspective for the practical application of high-power Radiation balance lasers (RBLs).