The free vibration analysis of functionally graded carbon nanotube reinforced composite (FG-CNTRC) conical shell is carried out by using element-free kp-Ritz method. Based on the first-order shear deformation shell theory, the approximate displacement field is expressed by the shape function of the nuclear particle, and the governing equation is established. The material properties of conical shell plates are determined by rule of mixtures and change with the thickness. In this work, the convergence is studied in terms of the number of nodes, and the accuracy of the proposed method is verified by comparing the current solution with the solution in the literature from different aspects. The effects of volume fraction, boundary conditions, distribution patterns of CNTs, half vertex angle and radius thickness ratio on their free vibration frequency characteristics are discussed in detail.