In this work, a finite element formulation to study the equilibrium and the stability of plates on elastic foundations is developed. This formulation can be used for linear and nonlinear analyses of isotropic or orthotropic, perfect or initially imperfect plates. It is based on Mindlin`s and von Kármán`s plate theories and on the shallow shell theory proposed by Marguerre.The plates can be on linear or non-linear foundations modeled using isoparametric finite elements. The non-linear foundation contains cubic and quadratic terms to allow a more realistic representation of its behavior. In order to obtain the equilibrium path of the structure, different incremental-iterative methods are employed.Two different strategies are implemented to solve the unilateral contact problem. In the first one, two formulations that use optimization techniques are developed, one for the linear analysis and the other one for non-linear analysis. The second strategy modifies the constitutive relation of the foundation in order to simulate its tensionless behavior.Equilibrium and stability examples are presented and, whenever possible, the results are compared with the ones found in the literature. In these examples, the influence of the non-linearities of the plate and the foundation, of initial geometric imperfections, and of the type of contact (unilateral or bilateral) on the load capacity and stability of the plate is studied. The influence of different finite element meshes on the results and the computational efficiency of the methodologies used to solve the unilateral contact problem are also discussed.