[en] In the present study, free vibrations of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) on an elastic foundation is investigated by nonlocal theory of elasticity with both beam and shell models. The nonlocal boundary conditions are derived explicitly and effectiveness of nonlocal parameter appearing in nonlocal boundary conditions is studied. Also it is demonstrated that the beam model is comparatively incapable of capturing size effects while shell model captures size effects more precisely. Moreover, the effects of some parameters such as mechanical properties, foundation stiffness, length and radius ratios on the natural frequencies are studied and some conclusions are drawn.