An extended Kalman–Bucy filter (EKBF)-based friction compensation method is presented and validated. The method relies on an accurate model of system rigid-body dynamics and measured motion, rather than a structured nonlinear friction model, to estimate external friction torque. The estimate is used in a traditional friction compensator to cancel friction effects. The EKBF compensator is compared with other model-based and non-model-based friction compensation strategies through position tracking experiments. Results show that when motion is dominated by static and Stribeck friction, non-model-based friction estimation and compensation using the EKBF consistently provides equal or superior performance over model-based adaptive friction compensation methods.