Thermal spraying offers the possibility of applying functional metal, ceramic or cermet coatings to components with different geometries and materials and significantly improving their thermal, mechanical, and chemical properties. The performance in operation as well as failure due to deformation, cracks, and delamination are mostly determined by the internal stress state within the coated components. This paper reviews coating developments on light metal and glass substrates, sprayed with different atmospheric plasma spray process spray parameters are reviewed. The results show that from the numerical and experimental residual stress analysis, the injection parameters can be influenced individually. This leads to optimized residual stress states in the coated components with regard to the expected operating loads. Paper includes a German-language abstract.