Fluctuations in the number of colloid particles adsorbed irreversibly under diffusion and flow were determined. The experimental measurements were carried out in the impinging-jet cells using as model colloids the monodisperse polystyrene latex particles of micrometer size range adsorbing at mica sheets. The surface concentration of adsorbed particles was determined quantitatively using the direct microscope observation method coupled with an image analyzing system. Two series of experiments were performed (i) for diffusion controlled adsorption when the random sequential adsorption (RSA) mechanism was valid and (ii) for flow controlled adsorption. It was found that in the case of RSA the reduced variance of the distributions decreased markedly for increasing surface concentration theta in accordance with theoretical predictions based on the mean-field approximation. The experimental results were in a good agreement with the numerical simulations performed according to the RSA algorithm. It was also determined that the magnitude of fluctuations in our irreversible system was very similar to reversible systems described by the scaled-particle theory. A significantly different behavior was observed for flow affected adsorption when the reduced variance (at the same surface concentration) was much smaller than for the RSA model, therefore deviating considerably from an equilibrium system. The decrease in the variance indicated that the surface exclusion effects (described by the available surface function) were more important under flow due to the hydrodynamic scattering effect.