A connected piled raft system is usually preferred for high-rise buildings in order to have larger bearing capacity and satisfactory settlement performances. The recent development in the piled raft foundation is the Disconnected Piled Raft System (DPR), where the piles are disconnected from the overlying raft using a cushion layer. This layer below the raft serves as a platform for distributing superstructure loads from the raft to subsoil and piles. Therefore, piles in DPR behave as soil reinforcement elements rather than load-bearing elements. The characteristics of the cushion layer, number of piles, length of piles, stiffness of pile, raft and cushion have a significant impact on the DPR's performance. This paper presents a small-scale experimental investigation that focusses on the behaviour of connected and disconnected pile raft foundation systems under vertical load in terms of load–settlement response, settlement efficiency (η) and Load Improvement Factor (LIF). A series of strain-controlled load tests were conducted on scaled models of unpiled rafts (UR), connected piled rafts (CPR) with 2 × 2 piles and disconnected piled rafts (DPR) systems where rafts rest on medium sand as cushions underlain by fine sand reinforced with piles (2 × 2). The load-carrying capacity of CPR was noticed to be the highest, while it was the lowest for UR. DPR showed an intermediate response with increased load capacity upon reduction in cushion thickness. Connected pile raft (CPR) also showed the highest settlement efficiency ratio compared to unpiled raft and disconnected piled raft. The settlement efficiency ratio decreased with an increase in cushion thickness of DPR. The introduction of a thin granular cushion layer between the pile and raft significantly reduces the rigidity on the pile head connection, which in turn helps in improving the load-carrying capacity and deformation behaviour of the DPR system.