The vibration analysis of the geometrically imperfect functionally gradient (FGM) plate has been performed using hybrid higher order deformation theory. The present theory contains the nonlinear variation of thickness coordinate in in-plane and transverse displacement. The equation of motion for FGM plates are obtained through variational principle. The solution has been performed using a finite element method by employing C0 continuous isoparametric formulation with 72 DOF/element. The parametric study has been done to examine the influence of geometric configurations, volume fraction index and various modes of geometric imperfection on the vibration characteristics of the FGM plate. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020.