AbstractVector and parallel algorithms for finite‐element analysis using the element‐by‐element (EBE) data structure are developed. The algorithms are based on the EBE approach in conjunction with gradient‐type iterative solution. The essential idea is to exploit the independent dense local‐element matrix‐vector calculations and reconfigure them to take advantage of vector or parallel processing capabilities. The ideas also are well suited to finite‐element adaptive refinement computations. Specific algorithmic details related to the implementations are given, together with results of speed‐up performance studies conducted on the vector and parallel architectures. The basic vector and parallel versions of the matrix‐vector product for the EBE scheme are very straightforward modifications of the EBE algorithm, requiring little coding change.