Abstract: A discontinuous cover-plate connection (DCPC) was proposed for prefabricated steel plate shear wall with beam-only-connected infill plate. Low cyclic loading tests were conducted on a steel frame with prefabricated beam-only connected steel plate shear wall (FPSPSW) and a steel frame with welded beam-only connected steel plate shear wall (FWSPSW), and the seismic performances of both specimens were studied. The failure modes, hysteretic curves, skeleton curves, and seismic performance indexes of both specimens were obtained. Then, the failure characteristics, ductility, energy dissipation capacity and stiffness degeneration were compared. The results show that the prefabricated beam-only connected steel plate shear wall with DCPC exhibit favorable seismic performance. The structure is consistent with the design concept of "strong frame with weak infill plate, strong column with weak beam". Compared with the welded connection, the DCPC can improve the energy dissipation capacity of the structure without losing the seismic performance, which provide a good function of post-earthquake rehabilitation.