The behaviour of vertically loaded pile groups with a rigid or flexible cap, in layered soils, is investigated in this research. The analysis is based on a simplified version of the Boundary Element Method, as suggested by POULOS (1968), for the case of an homogeneous and linearly elastic half-space. The estimation of settlements is obtained using a computational program, developed in this work, which evaluates the influence of the soil layering on the group effects as well as on the settlement of individual piles in the same group. Groups with usual geometrical configuration are considered, resting on some basic soil profiles (single and double layered systems). Numerical results thus calculated for the case of flexible cap indicate that soil layering, pile-stiffness factors and length-to- diameter ratios do not significantly affect the interaction factors for the top of piles. Hence, a simple, direct and efficient method of evaluation is proposed for the estimation of settlements in groups with any number of piles based on the superposition of the interaction factors determined for the case of just two piles at different spacing. For groups with a rigid cap, under the pratical point of view, the results also indicated that, the respective reduction factors are not significantly influenced by the soil layering, pile-stiffness factors and length-to- diameter ratios. So, reduction factors obtained for homogeneous soil profile can be used for others cases of soil profiling.