AlSi10Mg alloy was fabricated by Selective Laser Melting (SLM) using two different atmospheres, argon and nitrogen, both in vertical and horizontal built directions. The influence of work environment and anisotropy are studied in this work by keeping all other process parameters including shielding gas pressure constant. The meso-structural features revealed scan tracks and melt pool layers while the microstructural features have showed cellular structure with α-Al matrix and its boundary made up of the eutectic mixture of Al and Si. These cells were approximately of 500 nm size as revealed by TEM analysis. The grain morphology and texture were studied using EBSD analysis. The XRD analysis revealed similarity in the phases formed in samples built under argon and nitrogen environment. Both the horizontal as well as vertical built samples contain elongated grains with 〈100〉 direction oriented along the built direction and 〈100〉 fibre texture in the XY plane. Tensile test results showed the maximum strength of 385 ± 5 MPa was exhibited by vertically built sample under nitrogen environment while the lowest strength of 338 ± 2 MPa was exhibited by horizontally built sample under argon environment. Surface roughness and porosity measured in all the conditions exhibited minor variation in the average surface roughness and porosity area fraction values. Among the samples tested under same built orientation, the variation in strength is approximately 5% higher in nitrogen environment while among the samples tested under same working environment, the variation in strength is approximately 7.5% higher in vertically built samples. This states that the influence of working environment on strength is lesser than that of the built orientation. The materials exhibited brittle failure with inclined fracture profile, fracture morphology with pores, river patterns and inter-cellular fracture plus approximately 4.5% elongation in all the tested samples, implied isotropic elongation behaviour. The samples built under both the work environments exhibited the similarity in defect structure, microstructure and nearly isotropic behaviour in mechanical properties. It inferred that nitrogen could be preferred over argon as shielding gas in SLM for its cost effectiveness. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.