Abstract In this study, the orientation dependence of the elastocaloric effect and superelasticity in Ni50Mn30Ga20 single crystals undergoing L21–10M/14M–L10 martensitic transformations was investigated. The maximum value of the adiabatic temperature change ΔTad at reverse stress-induced martensitic transformations was shown to weakly depends on the orientation and equals 10.8 and 12.3 K in compression along the [001] and [011] directions, respectively. The superelasticity and elastocaloric effect temperature intervals were determined from the crystal orientation and were 80 K from 373 to 453 K for [001]-oriented crystals and 30 K from 373 to 403 K for [011]-oriented crystals. The strong orientation dependence of stress hysteresis Δσ (Δσ = 50–60 MPa for [001]-oriented crystals and Δσ = 110–142 MPa for [011]-oriented crystals) did not significantly affect the ΔTad, but determined the efficiency of the material for practical use as a solid state cooling device. The factors influencing the ΔTad(T) dependence were analyzed.