In order to explore the soil water infiltration characteristics of typical parent rocks with different developmental degrees, a disc infiltration meter was used to determine the infiltration process of three kinds of purple sandstone with different development degrees, which were Entisol (S1), Cambisols (S2) and Alfisol (S3), to explore the influencing factors of the infiltration process, and three common models were used to simulate the infiltration process to analyze and compare the suitability of these models. The results showed that:(1) There were significant differences in soil physicochemical properties among different development degrees. Compared with the Entisol, the soil bulk density of the Cambisols and Alfisol increased by 10.71% and 19.50%, the total soil porosity decreased by 8.79% and 18.69%, the aeration porosity decreased by 67.40% and 8.16%, and the soil clay content increased by 10.01% and 38.36%, the sand content decreased by 8.09% and 48.29%, and the soil organic matter increased by 2.88% and 8.68%, respectively. (2) The initial infiltration rate, average infiltration rate and saturated hydraulic conductivity of soils followed the order of Entisol>Cambisols>Alfisol, and the average infiltration rate and saturated hydraulic conductivity of Cambisols and Alfisol were 0.99, 0.58 and 0.89, 0.83 times higher than those of the Entisol, respectively. (3) Differences in soil physical and chemical properties of different soil development levels had a significant impact on soil water infiltration. Soil infiltration rate was positively correlated with total porosity, capillary porosity, aeration porosity and sand content, while negatively correlated with bulk density, clay content and organic matter. (4) The Horton model had a better fitting effect on the purple sandstone soil water infiltration process with different development degrees (R²=0.942), followed by the Kostiakov model (R²=0.858), and the Philip model had a poor fitting effect (R²=0.832). By observing and simulating the process of soil water infiltration of different development levels, the research results could provide a useful reference for the study of the soil water migration law in the watershed.