Additively manufactured 316L stainless steels display significantly higher yield strength than their as-cast or wrought counterparts. This is associated with the micro-scale cellular structure and complex grain and sub-grain structure, resulting from high cooling rates occurring during the additive manufacturing process. The consequences of these peculiar microstructural features on plastic localization early in the plastic regime at the sub-grain scale are investigated. The plastic localization involved during monotonic deformation of conventional and additive manufactured 316L stainless steels is investigated using high-resolution digital image correlation. Significant heterogeneous slip localization is observed in the additively manufactured 316L stainless steels compared to the wrought 316L stainless steels. The cellular structure and low-angle grain boundaries are observed to control the incipient plasticity. In addition, slip localization characteristics indicate that the additional strengthening in the AM material is mainly related to the cellular structure acting as a dislocation forest-type obstacle. •Slip localization amplitude in AM 316L SS is higher on average than in wrought 316L.•Heterogeneity of sub-grain structures controls slip deformation in the AM Material.•Strengthening in the AM SS is due to the cell structure acting as a dislocation forest.•Schmid Factor is a poor indicator of incipient plasticity in the AM Material.