The hypothesis for this study was that there is no difference in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) proliferation and osteogenic differentiation between calcium-phosphate (CaP) coatings with different crystal size deposited on different topographic surfaces of metal discs. Polished (P) and sand-blasted (SB) tantalum and TiAl6V4 discs were CaP coated by three methods-biomimetic (BioM), electrochemical at 20 mA/cm(2) and at 6.5 mA/cm(2)-and cultured with MSCs. At days 4, 7 and 14, cell proliferation-alamarBlue(®) activity and DNA quantification-and differentiation down the osteogenic lineage-ALP activity normalised per amount of DNA and SEM (morphology)-were analysed. Results showed that MSCs proliferated more when cultured on the nano-sized BioM coatings compared to uncoated and electrochemically coated discs. MSCs also proliferated more on P surfaces than on SB and or electrochemical coatings. All the coatings induced osteogenic differentiation, which was greater on electrochemical coatings and SB discs.