•Reduction of forces and improvement of efficiency during finish ball end milling.•Multi-criteria optimisation in terms of cutting forces and efficiency.•Relations between ball end milling process efficiency and surface inclination angle.•Optimised forces and process efficiency achieved for vc=375m/min and α=15°. This paper proposes a method for the reduction of forces and the improvement of efficiency during finish ball end milling of hardened 55NiCrMoV6 steel. The primary objective of this work concentrates on the optimal selection of milling parameters (cutting speed – vc, surface inclination angle α), which enables the simultaneous minimisation of cutting force values and increased process efficiency. The research includes the measurement of cutting forces (Fx, Fy, Fz) during milling tests with variable input parameters and calculation of process efficiency accounting for cutting parameters and surface inclination. The paper then focuses on the multi-criteria optimisation of the ball end milling process in terms of cutting forces and efficiency. This procedure is carried out with the application of the response surface method, based on the minimisation of a total utility function. The work shows that surface inclination angle has a significant influence on the cutting force values. Minimal cutting forces and relative high efficiency can be achieved with cutting speed vc=375m/min and surface inclination angle α=15°.