In Star Trek Online, players are able to progress through various ranks with their character. Most ranks consist of ten levels, and are, thus, increased by leveling up. This is done by earning Experience Points 
via playing the game (i.e., killing NPC or player enemies, completing missions/assignments and so on). Players will earn Space and Ground points as they level up, which can be invested in skill tree to improve and individualize the character.
New systems (e.g., Duty Officers, Crafting or Admiralty) and various player abilities are unlocked at specific levels (see below). At each new rank, a new tier of playable starships, the next column of the skill tree, as well as a new Personal trait slot are unlocked.
In addition, a player unlocks new pips or uniform decorations that can be attached to their uniform at a Tailor.
Rank/Level Progression
| Levels | Starship Tier | Gear Mark | Rank   |
Rank  |
Rank  |
Rank  |
Rank  [1] |
Experience points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Tier 1 | Standard Issue | Cadet | Lieutenant Junior Grade | Warrior | Citizen | Fifth | 0 |
| 1 | Tier 1 Tier 6[2] Tier 4[3] |
Mark I-II | Lieutenant | Fourth | 6,500 | |||
| 10 | Tier 2 | Mark III-IV | Lieutenant Commander | Centurion | Third | 33,500 | ||
| 20 | Tier 3 | Mark V-VI | Commander | Subcommander | Second | 93,500 | ||
| 30 | Tier 4 | Mark VII-VIII | Captain | Commander | First | 173,500 | ||
| 40 | Tier 5 | Mark IX-X | Rear Admiral, Lower Half | Brigadier General | Subadmiral I | Master First | 263,500 | |
| 45 | Mark XI-XII | Rear Admiral, Upper Half | Major General | Subadmiral II | Senior First | 313,500 | ||
| 50 | Tier 5-U Tier 6 |
Mark XIII-XIV | Vice Admiral | Lieutenant General | Vice Admiral | Elite First | 366,000 | |
| 55 | Admiral | General | Admiral | Revered First | 428,500 | |||
| 60 | Mark XV | Fleet Admiral | Dahar Master | Fleet Admiral | Honored First | 491,000 | ||
| 65 | 578,500 | |||||||
| Spec.[4] | 155,872[4] | |||||||
- ↑ Jem'Hadar captains begin at level 60. NPCs and Bridge Officers use these rank names, and they appear in the rank progression reward list.
- ↑ Since Rise of Discovery, All Tier 6 ships have become Scaling ships and are now available to all players after finishing their faction's tutorial.
- ↑ The Prototype Walker Light Exploration Cruiser, Kobayashi Maru Freighter, and Tong'Duj Freighter are all Tier 4 level scaling starships
- ↑ Each subsequent specialization level after reaching level 65.
The same rank names also apply to Bridge Officers (up until Commander/Subcommander). The ranks 
Ensign, 
Bekk, and 
Uhlan are not used due to storyline reasons (the respective tutorials portray the player characters being directly promoted to Lieutenant and skipping these ranks).
Aside from the player rank, there are other tier ranking systems in-game:
- The duty officer system is currently composed of four "commendation ranks", for each commendation category.
- The holdings of the Fleet Advancement System are leveled up through different "tiers".
- The personal Reputation System also lets your character progress through five "tiers" in each reputation faction.
Rank/Level Rewards
| Level | Rewards |
|---|---|
| 0 |    Cadet/Warrior/Citizen • First Bridge Officers[1] |
| 1 |    Lieutenant • New ship • Unlock Transwarp |
| 2 | • Space Ability: Evasive Maneuvers • Access to: Patrol / Empire Defense missions |
| 3 | • Access to: Fleet Action Missions |
| 4 | • Ground Ability: Target Optics (Tactical), Reroute Power to Shields (Engineering), Tricorder Scan (Science) • Unlock Injuries on Advanced/Elite |
| 5 | • Unlock PvP • Bridge Officer Awarded[1] |
| 7 | • Space Ability: Attack Pattern Alpha (Tactical), Rotate Shield Frequency (Engineering), Sensor Scan (Science) |
| 8 | • Bridge Officer Awarded[1] |
| 10 |    Lieutenant Commander/Centurion (33,000 Skill Points earned) • New ship & permission to Tier 2 ships • New Personal trait slots (1 ground, 1 space) |
| 11 | • Duty Officer System unlocked • Initial Duty Officer Cadre • Bridge Officer Awarded |
| 12 | • Space Ability: Brace for Impact |
| 14 | • Ground Ability: Fire on my Mark (Ground) (Tactical), Cover Shield (Engineering), Neural Neutralizer (Science) |
| 15 | • Research and Development system unlocked • Bridge Officer Awarded |
| 17 | • Space Ability: Fire on my Mark (Space) (Tactical), EPS Power Transfer (Engineering), Subnucleonic Beam (Science) |
| 18 | • Duty Officers awarded |
| 20 |    Commander/Subcommander (93,000 Skill Points earned) • New ship, permission to buy Tier 3 ships • New Personal trait slots (1 ground, 1 space) |
| 22 | • Space Ability: Ramming Speed |
| 23 | • Duty Officers awarded |
| 24 | • Ground Ability: Tactical Initiative (Tactical), Support Drone Fabrication (Engineering), Dampening Field (Science) |
| 25 | • Bridge Officer Awarded |
| 27 | • Space Ability: Tactical Initiative (Tactical), Nadion Inversion (Engineering), Scattering Field (Science) |
| 30 |    Captain/Commander (173,000 Skill Points earned) • New ship, permission to buy Tier 4 ships • New Personal trait slots (1 ground, 1 space) |
| 31 | • Duty Officers awarded |
| 32 | • Space Ability: Abandon Ship |
| 34 | • Ground Ability: Security Escort (Tactical), Orbital Strike (Engineering), Nanoprobe Infestation (Science) |
| 35 | • Bridge Officer Awarded |
| 37 | • Space Ability: Go Down Fighting (Tactical), Miracle Worker (Engineering), Photonic Fleet (Science) |
| 40 |    Rear Admiral I/Brigadier General/Subadmiral I (263,000 Skill Points earned) • New ship, permission to buy Tier 5 ships • New Personal trait slots (1 ground, 1 space) |
| 41 | • Duty Officers awarded |
| 42 | • Space Ability: Fleet Support • Unlock Daily PvP missions |
| 44 | • Ground Ability: Strike Team (Tactical), Engineering Proficiency (Engineering), Scientific Aptitude (Science) • Unlock Special Task Force missions |
| 45 |    Rear Admiral II/Major General/Subadmiral II (313,000 Skill Points earned) • Bridge Officer Awarded |
| 47 | • Space Ability: Tactical Fleet (Tactical), Engineering Fleet (Engineering), Science Fleet (Science) |
| 50 |    Vice Admiral/Lieutenant General (366,000 Skill Points earned) • Space Ability: Quantum Slipstream Drive • Reputation System unlocked • Permission to buy Tier 6 ships and upgrade Tier 5 ships (unlock Starship Mastery) • Unlock Daily PvP missions • New Personal trait slots (1 ground, 1 space) |
| 51 | • Unlock Captain Specialization system • Duty Officers awarded |
| 52 | • New rank of Space Ability: Fleet Support Rank III • Admiralty System unlocked |
| 54 | • New ranks of Ground Abilities: Strike Team III (Tactical), Engineering Proficiency III (Engineering), Scientific Aptitude III (Science) |
| 55 |   Admiral/General (750,420 Skill Points earned) • Bridge Officer awarded |
| 57 | • New ranks of Space Abilities: Tactical Fleet III (Tactical), Engineering Fleet III (Engineering), Science Fleet III (Science) |
| 60 |   Fleet Admiral/Dahar Master (1,498,620 Skill Points earned) • New Personal trait slots (1 ground, 1 space) |
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Players of each faction receive a specific set of bridge officers over the course of their respective tutorials and early storyline.
Ship Requisitions
At levels 10, 20, 30, and 40, players receive a free ship requisition token which can be used to buy one of the following ships:
† Only available for free for 600-day Veterans