The paper presents the issue of unbraced and semi-rigid steel frames stability with special attention paid to the determination problem of columns buckling length Lcr in these frames. The paper discusses ways of buckling length determination in frames columns with the use of well known, European and American standard procedures, as well as numerical method of stability analysis based on the Finite Element Method (FEM). The presented procedures and analysis methods in calculations of certain steel frames with semi-rigid joints were used. On the basis of obtained results, it has been shown that in many practical cases, the simplified standard procedures of columns buckling length determination can give the results burdened with errors. These errors can have a significant influence on accuracy of columns resistance calculations. The issues presented in the paper are very important from the practical point of view, and according to the author, they can be used in the practical design of unbraced steel frames.