Abstract We explore the possibility that inflation is driven by supersymmetry breaking with the superpartner of the goldstino (sgoldstino) playing the role of the inflaton. Moreover, we impose an R-symmetry that allows one to satisfy easily the slow-roll conditions, avoiding the so-called $$\eta $$ η -problem, and leads to two different classes of small-field inflation models; they are characterised by an inflationary plateau around the maximum of the scalar potential, where R-symmetry is either restored or spontaneously broken, with the inflaton rolling down to a minimum describing the present phase of our Universe. To avoid the Goldstone boson and be left with a single (real) scalar field (the inflaton), R-symmetry is gauged with the corresponding gauge boson becoming massive. This framework generalises a model studied recently by the present authors, with the inflaton identified by the string dilaton and R-symmetry together with supersymmetry restored at weak coupling, at infinity of the dilaton potential. The presence of the D-term allows a tuning of the vacuum energy at the minimum. The proposed models agree with cosmological observations and predict a tensor-to-scalar ratio of primordial perturbations and an inflation scale GeV. $$H_*$$ H ∗ may be lowered up to electroweak energies only at the expense of fine-tuning the scalar potential.