Decreasing the amount of nickel in austenitic stainless steels is one of the goals to widen the use of hydrogen technologies, but this usually comes at the cost of increased hydrogen embrittlement sensitivity. In this investigation, to prevent martensitic phase transformation and gain strength, nitrogen was added in various amounts to the metastable austenitic stainless steel SUS304. The grain size was also reduced for the nitrogen content that showed the best elongation in the presence of hydrogen. The hydrogen compatibility was evaluated both on the phase stability and retained ductility. These two criteria did not overlap perfectly, and only the material with the lowest nitrogen content and the one with nitrogen and grain refinement were hydrogen compatible, the latter having the lowest hydrogen-induced decrease of ductility. None of the nitrogen-added materials experienced hydrogen embrittlement.