The simplified plate theory is presented for static and free vibration analysis of power-law(P) and sigmoid(S) Functionally Graded Materials(FGM) plates. This theory considers the parabolic distribution of the transverse shear stress, and satisfies the condition that requires the transverse shear stress to be zero on the upper and lower surfaces of the plate, without the shear correction factor. The simplified plate theory uses only four unknown variables and shares strong similarities with classical plate theory(CPT) in many aspects such as stress-resultant expressions, equation of motion and boundary conditions. The material properties of the plate are assumed to vary according to the power-law and sigmoid distributions of the volume fractions of the constituents. The Hamilton’s principle is used to derive the equations of motion and Winkler-Pasternak elastic foundation model is employed. The results of static and dynamic responses for a simply supported FGM plate are calculated and a comparative analysis is carried out. The results of the comparative analysis with the solutions of references show relevant and accurate results for static and free vibration problems of FGM plates. Analytical solutions for the static and free vibration problems are presented so as to reveal the effects of the power law index, elastic foundation parameter, and side-to-thickness ratio.