The long-term performance of plates resting on viscoelastic foundations is a major concern in the analysis of soil-structure interaction. As a powerful mathematical tool, fractional calculus may address these plate-on-foundation problems. In this paper, a fractionalized Zener model is proposed to study the time-dependent behavior of a uniformly loaded rectangular thin foundation plate. By use of the viscoelastic-elastic correspondence principle and the Laplace transforms, the analytical solutions were obtained in terms of the Mittag-Leffler function. Through the analysis of a numerical example, the calculated plate deflection, bending moment and foundation reaction were compared to those from ideal elastic and standard viscoelastic models. It is found that the upper and lower bound solutions of the plate response estimated by the proposed model can be determined using the elastic model. Based on a parametric study, the impacts of model parameters on the long-term performance of a foundation plate were systematically investigated. The results show that the two spring stiffnesses govern the upper and lower bound solutions of the plate response. By varying the values of the fractional differential order and the coefficient of viscosity, the time-dependent behavior of a foundation plate can be accurately captured. The fractional differential order seems to be dependent on the mechanical properties of the ground soil. A sandy foundation will have a small fractional differential order while in order to simulate the creeping of clay foundation, a larger fractional differential order value is needed. The fractionalized Zener model is capable of accounting for the primary and secondary consolidation processes of the foundation soil and can be used to predict the plate performance over many decades of time.