Abstract The industry's interest in additively manufactured components is steadily growing. Against the background of an increased understanding of the static characteristic values, the focus is now moving towards the dynamic strengths. Hence, the parameters influencing the service life and potential post-processing methods are investigated and analyzed. In this context, a significant impact can be attributed to the surface quality and notch effects caused by roughness depths. Different methods to improve the surface quality are therefore investigated. The following methods and their effect on the surface quality and hardness are examined: laser polishing, electrochemical polishing, and shot peening. In the electrochemical polishing process, the samples are polished in perchloric acid for 90 s at 32 V and at a maximum of 10 A. Shot peening is performed using UFS 100 peening material at a pressure of 4 bar for a peening time of 10 s. A rotating bending test is subsequently performed and Wöhler curves are created for the different conditions and compared to reference values from analyzed conventional samples. Furthermore, the fracture surfaces are analyzed. The examinations revealed a great potential for optimization of the additively manufactured samples, when the surface is compressed and the surface layer is removed by machining. In this manner, higher fatigue strengths could be achieved than with conventionally manufactured samples.