Nanocrystalline CrN coatings were fabricated by DC and ICP (inductively coupled plasma) assisted magnetron sputtering techniques. The effect of ICP power, ranging from 0 to 500 W, on coating microstructure, preferred orientation mechanical properties were systematically investigated with HR-XRD, SEM, AFM and nanoindentation. The results show that ICP power has an significant influence on coating microstructure and mechanical properties of CrN coatings. With the increasing of ICP power, coating microstructure evolves from the columnar structure of DC process to a highly dense one. Grain size of CrN coatings were decreased from 11.7 nm to 6.6 nm with increase of ICP power. The maximum nanohardness of 23.0 GPa was obtained for the coatings deposited at ICP power of 500 W. Preferred orientation in CrN coatings also vary with ICP power, exerting an effective influence on film nanohardness.