Background <p>It is usually assumed that weight effects can be ignored if the vibration is measured from the equilibrium configuration. The equilibrium configuration of cantilevers induced by weight effect shifts the natural characters derived from the linear systems. The dynamic characteristics are also effected by the equilibrium configuration. To analyze accurately nonlinear vibrations of a cantilever around the equilibrium configuration, the dynamic effects of weight on the vertical transverse vibrations of a Euler–Bernoulli cantilever coupled with nonlinear energy sinks is revealed.</p> Methods <p>The governing equations considering and ignoring weights were derived. The modes of corresponding linear systems are obtained. The equations of uncontrolled system were discretized with the Galekin method. The discretized equations were solved via the harmonic balance method. The responses of the cantilever with nonlinear energy sinks was calculated for various locations of nonlinear energy sink, different numbers of nonlinear energy sink and different excitation positions. A comparative analysis was performed to evaluate the weight effects on the controlled beam response.</p> Results <p>The results indicate that the response derived from the governing equations considering weight effect exhibits a richer variety of nonlinear dynamic phenomena. For a uncontrolled cantilever, the hardening behavior of the response becomes more strongly evident as the excitation location is farther from the fixed end. This effect is further amplified when the weight effect is considered. For a controlled cantilever, the sub-harmonic responses emerge when the weight effect is considered.</p> Conclusions <p>For nonlinear vibration of a cantilever, the weight effects should be considered and they cannot offset by the change of the equilibrium configuration.</p>