This work employed an axial suspension plasma spray (SPS) process to deposit two different gadolinium zirconate (GZ) based triple layered thermal barrier coatings (TBCs). The first was a 'layered' TBC (GZ dense/GZ/YSZ) where the base layer was YSZ, intermediate layer was a relatively porous GZ and the top layer was a relatively dense GZ. The second triple layered TBC was a 'composite' TBC (GZ dense/GZ + YSZ/YSZ) comprising of an YSZ base layer, a GZ + YSZ intermediate layer and a dense GZ top layer. The as sprayed TBCs (layered and composite) were characterized using SEM/EDS and XRD. Two different methods (water intrusion and image analysis) were used to measure the porosity content of the as sprayed TBCs. Fracture toughness measurements were made on the intermediate layers (GZ + YSZ layer of the composite TBC and porous GZ layer of the layered TBC respectively) using micro indentation tests. The GZ + YSZ layer in the composite TBC was shown to have a slightly higher fracture toughness than the relatively porous GZ layer in the layered TBC. Erosion performance of the as sprayed TBCs was evaluated at room temperature where the composite TBC showed higher erosion resistance than the layered TBC. However, in the burner rig test conducted at 1400 °C, the layered TBC showed higher thermal cyclic lifetime than the composite TBC. Failure analysis of the thermally cycled and eroded TBCs was performed using SEM and XRD. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.