When compared to flat slabs, the waffle slabs reduce the volume of concrete, do not compromise the efficiency of the structure and also allow the construction of more economical slabs with longer spans. This study intends to investigate the behavior of three types of waffle slabs: a traditional waffle slab, a rotated ribbed slab and three-way slab. In the first part of this study, it was carried out a comparative analysis of various models using different types of finite element techniques in order to determine which one best represents the behavior of waffle slabs. The selected model uses shell elements to represent the concrete cover and beam elements to represent the ribs, both with six degrees of freedom per node. Rigid link elements were used to connect the shell elements and the beam elements in order to capture the relative position between the concrete cover and the ribs. Once the model was selected, a study of two-way, three-way and rotational systems were developed in the linear elastic regime. The results found using the finite element program Robot allowed the comparison between the three types of slabs in terms of, displacements obtained from the Service Limit State, amount of steel determined by designing in the Ultimate Limit State and volume of concrete. The traditional ribbed slabs had an overall better structural behavior, resulting in slabs that are more rigid and more economical from the point of view of the amount of materials used.