In an eight-week feeding trial, encapsulated sodium butyrate (ESB), gamma-aminobutyric acid (GAB), selenium-yeast (SeY), yeast extract nucleotides (YEN), yucca meal (YUM), song-gang stone (SGS) and protease (PRT) were evaluated as functional feed additives in a low fishmeal (FM) diet for olive flounder Paralichthys olivaceus. Eight experimental diets were fed to 5.26 ± 0.17 g (mean ± SD) juvenile olive flounder in triplicates. A low-FM basal diet without feed additive was considered as control (CON); seven other diets were prepared by adding 4 g ESB, 158 mg GAB, 2 g SeY, 4 g YEN, 1.5 g YUM, 4 g SGS, and 175 mg PRT per kg of basal diet. Weight gain, specific growth rate, feed efficiency, and protein efficiency ratio of fish fed diets YEN, GAB, and SGS were significantly higher than those of fish fed CON diet (P < .05). Superoxide dismutase activity of fish fed YEN and myeloperoxidase (MPO) and nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) of fish fed YEN, GAB, SGS, ESB, and YUM were significantly higher than those of fish fed CON diet. Whereas, there were no significant differences in non-specific immune responses among fish fed YEN, GAB, SGS, ESB, and YUM and diets (P > .05). Heat shock protein 70 gene expression of fish fed YEN and SeY was significantly higher than those of fish fed the CON diet. Intestinal villi length of fish fed YEN, GAB, SGS, and ESB was significantly higher than those of fish fed CON. Also, intestinal trypsin activity of fish fed YEN, GAB, SGS, ESB, and PRT was significantly higher than those of fish fed CON diet (P < .05). After seven days of challenge test, fish fed diets YEN, GAB, SGS, PRT, and YUM had higher cumulative survival than those of fish fed CON diet. In conclusion, YEN, GAB, and SGS could have beneficial effects on growth and feed utilization performance, MPO and NBT activity, intestinal villi length, intestinal trypsin activity, and cumulative survival of olive flounder fed low-FM diets. •Functional feed additives such as YEN, GAB, and SGS can enhance growth performance of olive flounder•YEN, GAB, and SGS improved intestinal villi length, trypsin activity, non-specific immune responses, and disease resistance•Selective functional feed additives (YEN, GAB, and SGS) can be considered cost-effective solutions in low fish meal diets