The surface-coated cutting tool of the present invention is characterized in that a region of 10 μm in a surface of the base material from point a′ to point b′ has two to seven cracks with a width of not more than 200 nm, or two to ten pores are present per length of 10 μm in the surface of the base material from point a′ to point b′, where points a′ and b′ are points defined respectively by lines drawn perpendicularly from points a and b to the surface of the base material where point a is a position located away from an edge ridgeline toward a rake face by distance La and point b is a position located away from the edge ridgeline toward a flank face by distance Lb.