Abstract The present study addresses the size dependency in nonlinear instability of functionally graded multilayer graphene platelet-reinforced composite (GPLRC) nanoshells under hydrostatic pressure including jointly the nonlocal elastic and strain gradients stress fields. For this objective, the new unconventional continuum theory namely as nonlocal strain gradient theory of elasticity is utilized within the framework of a refined hyperbolic shear deformation shell theory. Via stacking up a number of individual layers, the graphene platelet (GPL) nanofillers are distributed uniformly and three different functionally graded patterns based upon a layerwise change of the GPL weight fraction through the shell thickness direction. The effective material properties corresponding to uniform (U-GPLRC) and X-GPLRC, O-GPLRC, A-GPLRC functionally graded patterns of dispersion are extracted by Halpin-Tsai micromechanical scheme. By employing jointly the boundary layer theory of shell buckling and a two-stepped perturbation technique, explicit analytical expressions are achieved for nonlocal strain gradient stability curves of functionally graded multilayer GPLRC nanoshells. It is indicated that by increasing the value of GPL weight fraction for the U-GPLRC and O-GPLRC nanoshells, the significance of the both nonlocal and strain gradient size dependencies reduces, while for the X-GPLRC and A-GPLRC nanoshells, it increases.