Aim: Cheese whey is the watery part obtained after milk curdling in cheese-making. Because it contains high quality proteins, whey is mainly valorized by industrial processed to obtain value-added food ingredients. However, these processes are only applicable to some types of whey, are energy-consuming and only concern large-scale dairy plants. As part of FAIRCHAIN project, we aimed at developing whey-based beverages using fermentation as alternative whey valorization process. This study explores the ability of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) to ferment different types of whey, to obtain the best aroma profiles for the beverages. Method: Two types of whey were assessed: a sweet whey from Morbier cheese and an acid one from Comté cheese. 125 LAB strains belonging to 27 species, were selected for their capacity to utilize lactose and their GRAS status. They were evaluated for their ability to ferment both wheys. After fermentation, the products were assessed for their acidification and sensory properties (tastes and sniffing). Sugar content and volatile profile of fermented wheys were evaluated by HPLC and GC-MS respectively. Results: Fermentation outcomes differed according to the whey type: 34 strains did not acidify sweet whey, while 91 strains did not acidify the acid one. For a given whey, acidification was species-dependent: Lactobacillus helveticus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii strains showed the best acidification capacities in both wheys although acidification was higher on sweet whey compared to the acid one. Sensory profile analysis led to different results and were strain-dependent. Regarding sweet whey, 40 strains (12.5%) encompassing 12 species showed a promising aroma profile while only 20 belonging to 7 species were retained for acid whey. Both criteria considered, 26% strains tested on sweet whey showed a good acidification ability and an aroma profile deemed to be acceptable, whereas only 20 strains were retained for Comté acid whey. Noteworthy, only 6 strains showed promising results on both wheys. Conclusion: This study highlighted the huge diversity of the metabolic profiles of LAB strains when used for fermentation of different whey types. Fermentation by well selected bacteria LAB thus appears as a sustainable and an inexpensive process, to valorize whey.