Abstract: 2 high ductile fiber reinforced concrete (HDC) columns and 2 steel reinforced high ductile concrete (SHDC) short columns, using high ductile fiber reinforced concrete and allocating steel in core area to improve the seismic behavior and deformability of short columns, were put through pseudo-static testing to determine their failure modes, deformability and energy dissipation ability. The research shows that a decrease in shear-span ratio is beneficial to the good shear performance of HDC, which results in good ductility and energy dissipation capacity in HDC short columns. Allocating steel in the core area can significantly improve the ductility and energy dissipation capacity of HDC short columns, thus improving the damage resistance of members. Good adherence, allowing compatible deformation between steel and HDC, can improve the brittle shear failure mode of short columns, allowing SHDC short columns to maintain good ductility even after shear-bond failure occurs. Additionally, the deformation capacity of SHDC short columns at different performance levels is obviously higher than that of HDC short columns, and they are able to meet the deformation requirements for vertical members in the Chinese Code.