With the Yb:GdYCOB crystal end-pumped by a diode laser with an annular-shaped beam profile, the direct emission of vortex laser is realized in a laser resonant cavity. By measuring the spatial intensity distribution, beam quality factor, beam purity, and wave front phase information, it is confirmed that the laser output beam is really a highly pure vortex beam. With 3.2 W pump power, the maximum output power is 281 mW, the optical-to-optical efficiency is 8.7%, and the slope efficiency is 21.7%.