Abstract Thermal spraying makes possible to manufacture coatings of a large number of materials, including those with a high melting point, such as ceramics. There are different ways of manufacturing these coatings, two of them are air-plasma spraying and flame spray. In this study the zirconia and alumina coatings were manufactured by flame spray, their morphology was studied and compared with their thermal conductivity and diffusivity properties. The morphology was studied from scanning electron microscope micrographs and the thermal properties measured by the laser flash method. It was discovered that the type of flame used to obtain the coatings influences the percentage porosity and thickness and that this in turn, affects its thermal properties.