This paper presents the comparative design procedures for steel frame elements using three different International design codes, viz. the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), the European Code (EC3) and the Russian Design Code (SP). It focuses on the resistance capacity of steel members subjected to different loads, such as tension, compression and flexure. It compares the formulation of all codes that identify their similarities and differences. The comparative study is performed for a compact rolled I sections with different slenderness and lateral bracing lengths. The results are presented graphically in different ways such as strength curves, Moment capacity versus lateral bracing length and normalized graphs. The comparative study shows that the resistance capacity specified by all specifications can be different for some considered cases. For compression member, SP specifications have higher capacity and economical approach. For flexural member, AISC gives higher capacity for inelastic region and EC3 gives higher capacities for elastic region but SP approach is lower for flexural capacity. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.