HoBi single crystal and polycrystalline compounds with NaCl-type structure were successfully obtained, and their magnetic and magnetocaloric properties were studied in detail. With temperature increasing, HoBi compound undergoes two magnetic transitions at 3.7 K and 6 K, respectively. The transition temperature at 6 K has been recognized as an antiferromagnetic to paramagnetic (AFM-PM) transition, which belonged to first-order magnetic phase transition (FOMT). It is interesting that HoBi compound with FOMT exhibits good thermal and magnetic reversibility. What’s more, a large inverse and normal magnetocaloric effects (MCE) were found in HoBi single crystal on the H // [100] direction, and the positive ΔS M peaks reaches 13.1 J/kg K under a low field change of 2 T and the negative ΔS M peaks reaches -18 J/kg K under a field change of 5 T, respectively. These excellent properties are expected to be applied in some magnetic refrigerators with special designs and functions.