The dynamic characteristics of the fractional Duffing system with nonlinear time delay term are studied according to the average method and the harmonic balance method. First, the steady‐state solutions of the fractional Duffing system with a nonlinear time delay term are obtained by applying the average method and the harmonic balance method. The analytical expressions of the amplitude–frequency characteristic curves under the average method and the harmonic balance method are also established. Second, the stability criterion of the system is obtained according to the indirect method of studying the motion stability problem, and the concept of the stability condition parameter is proposed in this process. Third, the transient solution of the fractional Duffing system with a nonlinear time delay term is obtained utilizing the average method, and the approximate analytical solution of the fractional Duffing system with nonlinear time delay term is obtained. Finally, the amplitude–frequency characteristic curves of the different fractional differential terms, coefficients of different fractional differential terms, magnitude of different time delay quantities, and feedback strength of different delay are analyzed by numerical simulation. Furthermore, the amplitude–frequency characteristic curves obtained by the average method and the harmonic balance method under different order of fractional differential term are compared and analyzed by numerical simulation. The time sequence and phase diagrams of the system under different order of fractional differential term and different time delay quantities are analyzed by numerical simulation. In addition, the correctness of the analytical analysis is verified by comparing the analytical results with the numerical simulation results under the average method and the harmonic balance method, respectively, by numerical simulation.