This study investigates the wear behavior of additively welded cladding layers on less wear‐resistant base materials using plasma‐transferred arc welding and laser hot‐wire cladding. The cladding layers are made from atomized AISI 52100, AISI 5140, and a stainless steel with (0.52 wt% C, 0.9 wt% Si, 14 wt% Cr, 0.4 wt% Mo, 1.8 wt% Ni, 1.2 wt% V, bal. Fe) on unalloyed steel AISI 1022M as the base material. The specimens' microstructure and surface hardness are comparable with conventional specimens of monolithic AISI 52100 and AISI 4140, which is used as a reference. Tribometer tests are carried out in ball‐on‐disk configuration to investigate the wear resistance of the specimen. The multimaterial specimens show comparable wear behavior to their monolithic counterparts, and a good performance of the stainless specimen in pure sliding is proven. These findings suggest that additive manufacturing processes can be used to clad less wear‐resistant base materials and achieve high wear resistance, making it possible to exploit the advantages of surface coatings under severe wear conditions.