Thin films of GdFeO3 (GdFO) have been grown on two (00l) oriented single crystal substrates viz., LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 using pulsed laser ablation method. Phase purity of the prepared samples is confirmed from x-ray 2 theta - omega measurements. From the x-ray phi-scans and reciprocal space mapping measurements, it is observed that GdFO films are epitaxial and grow in (00l) out-of-plane orientation. It is observed that the GdFO grows along the diagonal of the substrate cube with in-plane 90 degrees rotated orthorhombic twins for both the substrates. Magnetization data shows the signatures of Gd3+ ordering and magnetic field induced spin re-orientation similar to that of bulk GdFO for both the substrates. However, surface morphology is found to be different for both the substrates resulting in considerable changes of O K-edge near absorption spectra.