A series of Cu(II), Co(II), Pd(II), Pt(II), Zn(II), Cd(II) and Fe(III) complexes were designed and synthesized using Schiff base 1-phenyl-2,3-dimethyl-4-(N-3-formyl-6-methylchromone)-3-pyrazolin-5-one (HL). The new metal complexes were investigated using various physicochemical techniques including elemental and thermal analyses, molar electric conductivity and magnetic susceptibility measurements, as well as spectroscopic methods. Also, the crystal structures of ligand HL and the Pd(II) complex were determined using single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. For all compounds, the antimicrobial activity was studied against a series of standard strains: Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter baumannii, Candida albicans, Candida krusei and Cryptococcus neoformans. The in vitro antiproliferative activity of the ligand and complexes was evaluated against ten cancer cell lines: MSC, A375, B16 4A5, HT-29, MCF-7, HEp-2, BxPC-3, RD, MDCK and L20B. At 10 μM concentration a significant cytotoxic effect of the Co(II), Pd(II) and Cd(II) complexes was observed against B16 4A5 murine melanoma cells. The Zn(II) complex is active against HEp-2, RD and MDCK cancer cell lines, where IC₅₀ values vary between 1.0 and 77.6 and for BxPC-3 the activity index versus doxorubicin is 3.7 times higher.