In the present work, an attempt has been made to study the slurry erosion properties and operating erosive wear mechanisms of Co-based Stellite 6 and Ni-based Colmonoy 88 coatings, and also to list the conditions at which maximum and minimum erosion rates occur. Laser surface alloying (LSA) has been done on 13Cr-4Ni steels with commercial Co-based Stellite 6 and Ni-based Colmonoy 88 powders. Slurry erosion tests have been conducted on LSA-modified steels for a constant slurry velocity of 12 m/s and for a fixed slurry concentration of 10 kg/m3 of irregular, sharp-edged SiO2 particles with average sizes of 375 and 100 μm and at impingement angles of 30, 45, 60, and 90 deg. A mixed (neither ductile nor brittle) mode of erosion behavior for Stellite 6 coatings and a brittle mode of erosion behavior for Colmonoy 88 coatings were observed when these materials were impacted with particles with an average size of 375 μm, whereas only a brittle mode of erosion was observed for both Stellite 6 and Colmonoy 88 coatings when impacted with particles with an average size of 100 μm. Mainly, chip formation, chip fracture, microcutting, plowing, and crater lip and platelet formation were observed for Stellite 6 coatings and progressive fracture of carbides, carbide pullout and carbide/boride intact were observed for the case of Colmonoy 88 coatings. © 2009 The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and ASM International.