Because of the environmental impacts associated with the chromium electroplating process, numerous efforts have been carried out worldwide for the last 10 years to find alternatives to hard chrome. Different processes and coatings have been validated depending on the application: dry plating (micro-welding; PVD, CVD); nickel-based alternatives; trivalent chromium; thermal spraying. For the latter, WC-Co cermets appear, in most cases, as the pertinent selection.In this work, we use the Life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to estimate the environmental impacts and benefits of thermal spray processes compared to conventional chromium plating using hexa- or trivalent chromium. LCAs make it possible to evaluate the resource consumption and environmental burdens associated with a process. They can identiye and quantify (i) cradle to end-of-life exchanges with the environment that are related to a process and (ii) the assessment of the final impact (human health, ecosystem and resource consumption) of these exchanges.  The thermal spray processes we analyze include (i) WC-Co coatings manufactured by Atmospheric Plasma Spraying  and High Velocity Oxygen Fuel spraying and (ii) hard steel coatings manufactured by wire arc and HVOF spraying. A global estimation of the associated costs completes this study.