The study of cordierite ceramic is the need of the hour in present technological world for various advanced engineering applications. Cordierite, which has relatively poor mechanical properties, has induced the use of various dopants to study the improvement in mechanical properties. Thirst of seeking new materials with good mechanical properties has revived the research on ceria doped cordierite. Present research conducted on pure cordierite and ceria doped cordierite ceramics has investigated the results of characterization and studied their suitability. Pure cordierite and cordierite–ceria (CeO₂) composite ceramics synthesized for various stoichiometric composition (5–20 wt%) were compacted at 240 MPa and sintered between 600 ℃ and 1350 ℃ for 3 h. The characterization techniques used in this study were X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric (TG) analysis and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). The density was calculated using the Archimedes principle. Influence of the ceria addition on cordierite’s mechanical properties such as hardness, flexural strength and fracture toughness and on thermal properties as thermal expansion was studied. XRD results confirmed the presence of cordierite and ceria in the samples heat treated at 1350 ℃. Results of FTIR and TG analyses revealed the formation of cordierite and the effect of ceria addition. The mechanical properties studied were found to be encouraging and confirmed the suitability of cordierite–ceria as an alternate material for cordierite.