To investigate the effect of laser shock peening (LSP) on the fatigue crack propagation behavior of 316L stainless steel fabricated by directed energy deposition (DED), three‐dimensional finite element models of DED and compact tensile specimens before and after LSP are developed. The residual stress fields induced by DED and LSP are simulated, as well as the effects of different residual stresses on the stress intensity factor and effective stress ratio based on the contour integral method is also analyzed. The microstructure of the LSP region is observed by SEM. When the crack length increases from 12 mm to 22.5 mm, the average effective stress ratio of the DED specimen is 0.133, and the average effective stress ratio of the DED specimen after LSP decreases to 0.110, which decreases by 17.3%. The fatigue lives of the DED specimen before and after LSP are 62.7% and 105.2% of that of the hot‐rolled plate. After LSP treatment, the fatigue life of the DED specimen is increased by about 1.68 times. The fracture morphology in the transient fracture zone changes from ductile and brittle mixed fracture to ductile fracture.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.