In this article, we present two numerical methods for treating the fractional initial‐value problem (FIVP) and time‐fractional partial differential problem (FPDP) that caused the error to decay exponentially rapidly. The derivations of the proposed schemes rely on the use of a spectral Galerkin method that reduces each of the FIVP and FPDP into an algebraic system of equations in the unknown expansion coefficients. The class of orthogonal polynomials, namely, Chebyshev polynomials of the fifth kind is utilized. In terms of new basis functions called regular shifted Chebyshev poly‐fractionomials of fifth kind, approximate solutions to the FIVP and FPDP are obtained. Moreover, convergence and error analysis of the two problems are investigated in depth. Some numerical examples are presented with some comparisons. In conclusion, our spectral methods are effective and convenient.