The uniform deformation theory (UDT) is a relatively new concept in structural seismic design optimization. However, the results of optimization based on this theory have not yet been compared with other optimization techniques such as metaheuristics, and the optimality of the designs has been proved only by comparing the results with the conventional designs. This paper presents a new algorithm based on the UDT to performance-based design optimization (PBDO) of steel moment frames. In order to verify robustness of this method, the achieved results of PBDO for two baseline steel moment frames are compared with three metaheuristics consisting of genetic algorithm (GA), ant colony optimization (ACO), and particle swarm optimization (PSO). The results indicate that the optimization based on UDT provides a much higher convergence rate to the optimum design compared with metaheuristics.