The work aims to improve the tribological properties of nickel-based alloy coatings. Two kinds of nickel-based alloy coatings were prepared on the surface of GCr15 steel by induction remelting and its isothermal quenching respectively. The friction and wear properties, microstructures and surface hardness of the two kinds of nickel-based alloy coatings were investigated comparatively by pin-disc friction and wear tests, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometer and microhardness tests. The effects of isothermal quenching treatment on the tribological properties, microstructure and surface hardness of nickel-based alloy coatings prepared by induction remelting were investigated, and the strengthening mechanism was revealed. The friction coefficient and wear loss of the remelting coatings after isothermal quenching were lower than that of the induction remelting coatings. The friction coefficient during the friction stabilization stage of the remelting coatings after isothermal quenching was 0.301, 23.8% lower than that of the latter, and the relative wear resistance was 1.71 times as much as that of the latter. There were two mechanisms of abrasive wear and adhesive wear in induction remelting coatings, while the remelting coatings after isothermal quenching were dominated by abrasive wear and had better resistance to abrasive wear and adhesive wear than the former. The average microhardness of the induction remelting coating and the coating after isothermal quenching was 818.0HV0.5 and 873.6HV0.5 respectively, the extreme hardness difference was 170.9HV0.5 and 132.6HV0.5 respectively, and the shape parameters were 18.5057 and 22.6189 respectively, thus the latter had higher average hardness, smaller extreme hardness difference and more stable coating properties than the former. Microstructure analysis showed that the synergistic effect of grain refinement, relative homogeneity and dispersion of hard phase, reduction of eutectic phase, abundant wear-resistant ceramic phase and directional grain structure of rapid solidification was the root cause of the excellent Weibull distribution of microhardness and the further improvement of the wear resistance. Therefore, the appropriate isothermal quenching heat treatment process can improve the microstructure of nickel-based alloy coating, thus effectively reducing the friction coefficient of the coating and improving its wear resistance.