Cu-Ni-In coating was formulated on two substrate materials - Ti-alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) and Al-alloy (AA 6063) fatigue test specimens using detonation gun (D-gun) spray process. Coating on both substrates was dense with low porosity, high hardness, and high surface roughness. Relatively higher surface compressive residual stress was present at the coating on Ti-alloy specimens. In case of the coating on Al-alloy samples, tensile residual stress was also present in some places. Uniaxial plain fatigue and fretting fatigue experiments were conducted on uncoated and coated specimens. The detrimental effect of life reduction due to fretting was relatively larger in the Al-alloy compared to the Ti-alloy. While Cu-Ni-In coating was found to be beneficial on the Ti-alloy, it was deleterious on the Al-alloy substrate under both plain fatigue and fretting fatigue loading. The results were explained in terms of differences in the values of surface hardness, surface roughness, surface residual stress, and friction stress. © ASM International 2007.