The cavitation erosion behavior of Fe-Cr-C-Si-xNi (x = 1, 2 and 3 wt.%) alloys were investigated for 50 hours using a 20 kHz vibratory cavitation erosion test equipment. 1 wt.% Ni added Fe-based hardfacing alloy showed excellent cavitation erosion resistance, comparable to the stellite 6. Above 1 wt.% Ni, however, the erosion resistance deteriorated quickly. It is conjectured that Ni addition above 1 wt.%, which has been shown to increase the stacking fault energy (SFE), resulted in reduction of the work hardening rate during the erosion test. Therefore, the enhanced cavitation erosion resistance of the 1 wt.% Ni alloy over the 2 and 3 wt.% Ni alloys could be explained in terms of the SFE, MS temperature and work hardening.