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In order to satisfy the requirements of tool coatings for high speed cutting of titanium alloy, it is necessary to add Si element into TiAlN-based tool coating to enhance the hardness of the coating, but it will reduce the adhesion and the cutting performance. In this paper, the gradient TiAlSiN coating is deposited with out-of-plane Si gradient distribution by magnetron sputtering. By this way, the hardness of the coating can maintain that of the non-gradient TiAlSiN coating by more than 70%, which is 147% higher than that of the TiAlN coating. Meanwhile, the adhesion increases by 300% compared to the adhesion of the non-gradient TiAlSiN coating and reaches to 100 N. The gradient TiAlSiN coating has a 75.4% higher cutting distance than that of the non-gradient TiAlSiN coating when cutting titanium alloy. This study provides a method to further improve the adhesion of titanium alloy cutting tool coatings. • Gradient structure improves adhesion of coating while maintaining hardness. • Adhesion of gradient TiAlSiN coating increases by 300% than that without gradient. • Cutting distance increases by 75.4% due to Si gradient in TiAlSiN coating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]