Earlier decades have observed an expeditious increase in the evolution of harder and complex to cut materials. Abrasive water jet machining is one of the novel nontraditional cutting processes that found diverse applications in machining different kinds of difficult-to-machine materials. It is a commercial process for heat sensible materials, which are difficult to machine by heat generated machining techniques. Process parameters play an important role in finding the economics of machining process at good quality. This research focused on the comparative prediction of responses during AWJ machining of granite using response surface methodology and desirability approach. MRR and surface roughness are considered as responses which will decide the quality of machining process. Experiments were carried out according to RSM design. RSM is adopted for prediction of responses in order to compare experimental values. Finally, optimizations have been done for determining the best set of machining parameters. © 2021, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.