By gradual change in structures design methods from strength based methods to performance based methods, common frames could not pass the criteria of latter methods and if we design structures by applying all criteria it will be an uneconomical design. Main problem in common frames is unbalance between stiffness and ductility. To prevent large drifts a structure should have sufficient stiffness and in order to absorb earthquake energy it ought to have high ductility. The goal of this research is to study on rigid and semi-rigid steel frames seismic performance and the effects of adding friction dampers to this structures. For this purpose a building frame has designed in four ways including moment frame, moment frame with friction damper, semi-rigid frame and semi-rigid frame with friction damper and three earthquake record applied to them. By regarding the results of structure analysis it turned out that semi-rigid frame with friction damper had the best performance among mentioned frames. Analyses showed that by using of semi-rigid connections in the moment frame with friction damper, maximum first story displacement and base shear decrease respectively 7 and 20 percent.