Every ranking like this is a fight, because the sources don't share a universe. Legends and canon contradict each other on purpose. So this one ranks on demonstrated feats — what a character was actually shown doing on the page or screen — and says out loud where the fandom still throws chairs.
The short answer
If you want one name for the strongest being who was ever a person: Vitiate. He drained the life from an entire world in a single ritual and then stayed alive for thirteen centuries by wearing other people. The Ones, Abeloth and the Celestials all outrank him and none of them are people; ranking them against a man is like ranking weather against a general.
Continuity
Medium
EvidenceCrowdΔ
Tier 00 · not on the scale
Beyond the mortal
These aren't strong Force users. They're what the Force does when it stops pretending to be a rulebook.
The Daughterthe Son, with the dagger meant for the FatherThe Clone Wars 2011
Ahsoka Tanothe Son killed her; the Daughter's life force gave her backThe Clone Wars 2011 · undone
They stop starships in the sky, raise the dead, and reshape a whole realm at whim. The Father exists mainly to keep the other two from unmaking the galaxy, which is a full-time occupation for something that can call a Jedi shuttle across the galaxy with a two-thousand-year-old distress beacon and then swallow it whole.
shownThe Clone Wars · S03E15 “Overlords”
The Father lures the Jedi shuttle to Mortis with an ancient distress beacon, takes it in, and reshapes the realm at will. — 2011
shownThe Clone Wars · S03E16 “Altar of Mortis”
The Daughter's life force revives Ahsoka after the Son kills her. — 2011
shownThe Clone Wars · S03E15 “Overlords”
Anakin brings the Son and the Daughter to their knees at once, passing the Father's test. — 2011
Dyon Staddkilled him to take his placeFate of the Jedi: Ascension 2011
A mortal who drank from the Font of Power and came back as something else. She hops bodies across the galaxy, pours madness into Jedi light-years away, and dies repeatedly without staying dead. Putting her down took Jedi and Sith hitting her on three fronts at once, and Luke still left a standing order to find the one weapon that could finish her if she came back.
shownFate of the Jedi: Outcast · 2009
Valin Horn breaks down believing everyone around him is an impostor, the first case of a madness the Order cannot explain.
shownFate of the Jedi: Apocalypse · 2012
She originates as a mortal servant who drank from the Font of Power.
shownFate of the Jedi: Apocalypse · 2012
Putting her down at all takes Jedi and Sith attacking on three fronts at once.
Never seen, only inferred from the wreckage: they towed inhabited planets across interstellar space into the Corellian system, built Centerpoint Station, and walled off the Maw. Their unit of measurement is astronomy.
statedThe Essential Atlas · 2009
The Corellian system's five habitable worlds were moved there artificially, and Centerpoint Station is theirs.
shownCorellian Trilogy: Showdown at Centerpoint · 1995
Centerpoint Station fires across interstellar distance at Bovo Yagen, and is thrown off aim only by Anakin firing Drall's repulsor.
statedThe Essential Guide to Warfare · 2012
The Maw's black-hole cluster is named as a Celestial construct, built to contain Abeloth.
Imperial death troopersForce lightning, on his way downStar Wars Rebels 2017
Rebel starfighters on the groundhe struck both sides; that was the point of himStar Wars Rebels 2017
Calls himself the middle between light and dark, then becomes a living thunderstorm the size of a mountain when annoyed. Thrawn's walkers do bring him down, and he uses the fall to hand Thrawn a prophecy about his own defeat before vanishing rather than dying.
statedStar Wars Rebels · S03E01 “Steps Into Shadow”
Describes himself as the centre between the light and the dark side. — 2016
shownStar Wars Rebels · S03E22 “Zero Hour, Part Two”
Becomes a storm across the sky, is shelled by Imperial walkers, and departs with a prophecy for Thrawn. — 2017
Hethrirconsumed him, then leftThe Crystal Star 1994
A slab of extradimensional gold flesh that eats Force energy. Luke goes into it and does not come out under his own power — though the crystal star has been blunting him for the whole book, so this is not Luke at his best. Whether it died or went home is still argued about. Endlessly mocked either way.
shownThe Crystal Star · 1994
Nearly consumes Luke, who has to be dragged out of it by Han and Leia.
Tier 01 · apex
The strongest people
Mortals, technically. Each one has at least one feat measured in planets or centuries.
Every living thing on Nathemaincluding the eight thousand Sith who performed the ritual for himRevan 2011
The population of Ziostthe whole planet, in one sitting, in Rise of the EmperorThe Old Republic 2015
Darth Marrone Force blast, for declining to kneelThe Old Republic 2015
Gathered eight thousand Sith for one ritual and drained every living thing on Nathema; the planet came out dead and blank in the Force, and it stayed that way. Then he ruled for roughly thirteen hundred years by discarding bodies, and survived his own on-screen deaths more than once.
statedRevan · 2011
The Nathema ritual consumed every living thing on the planet and left it dead in the Force.
shownThe Old Republic · Knights of the Fallen Empire
Persists as Valkorion after his body's destruction by inhabiting others. — 2015
statedThe Old Republic · The Foundry
Held Revan in stasis for roughly three centuries before the Foundry strike team reached him. — 2011
Everyone on Katarra Jedi conclave and the planet's population; Visas Marr was the only survivorKnights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords 2004
Not a man with powers — a wound in the Force wearing a mask. He consumed all life on Katarr in a single visit and was still starving afterward. The catch, and the reason he isn't first: the hunger hollowed him out faster than it fed him, and three people walked onto his ship and finished him.
statedKnights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords · Visas Marr's account
Drains all life from Katarr during a Jedi conclave, leaving Visas Marr as the only survivor. — 2004
shownKnights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords · Ravager
Dies aboard the Ravager, his hunger having hollowed him out past the point of sustaining itself. — 2004
The farm boy is not the same character forty years of novels later. Battle mind-walking past death and back, a Force storm turned around on the man who cast it, and a share in the kill on Abeloth. The Legends version of this character kept accumulating for forty years; the canon one never got the chance.
shownFate of the Jedi: Abyss · 2009
Mind-walks beyond shadows into the realm of the dead and comes back.
shownFate of the Jedi: Apocalypse · 2012
Vanquishes Abeloth in the Beyond Shadows, one of three simultaneous fronts against her.
shownDark Empire · 1992
Turns a Force storm back on Palpatine, with Leia lending her strength.
Force storms that swallowed whole fleets and tore at planetary crusts, plus essence transfer into a queue of clone bodies that made killing him a temporary inconvenience. Canon Palpatine is terrifying; Legends Palpatine is a weather system with a grudge.
shownDark Empire · 1992
Summons Force storms that destroy capital ships and tear at a planet's surface.
shownEmpire's End · 1995
His supply of prepared clone bodies runs out, and the last transfer attempt fails.
The Son of Mortisthe Father stabbed himself to strip the Son's power; Anakin ran him throughThe Clone Wars 2011
A Tusken campthe men, the women and the children; he tells Padmé afterwardsAttack of the Clones 2002
Count Dookubeheaded, holding both his hands, on Palpatine's wordRevenge of the Sith 2005
The Jedi younglingsthe camera cuts on the ignition; only the bodies are shownRevenge of the Sith 2005
The Separatist Councilon Mustafar, on Sidious's orderRevenge of the Sith 2005
A midi-chlorian count higher than Yoda's, and on Mortis he forces both of the Father's children to their knees at once, which no one else in any continuity has managed. Everything after Mustafar is a downgrade; the suit is a life-support cage that costs him most of what this ranking measures.
statedThe Phantom Menace · 1999
Obi-Wan reads a midi-chlorian count over twenty thousand — higher than Yoda's.
shownThe Clone Wars · S03E15 “Overlords”
Compels the Son and the Daughter to kneel simultaneously in the Father's test. — 2011
shownRevenge of the Sith (film) · 2005
Is fitted with a full-body life-support suit and respirator after Mustafar.
Tier 02 · the greats
Legends of the order
Anyone here beats almost everyone you've ever seen fight in a film.
Darth Tenebroushis own master, on Bal'demnic, the moment the work was doneDarth Plagueis 2012
Darth Venamiskilled and revived him over and over, then finally let it takeDarth Plagueis 2012
Worked on midi-chlorians directly, kept people from dying, and reached for the ability to make life. The books leave open the possibility that Anakin is what came back the other way.
shownDarth Plagueis · 2012
Experiments directly on midi-chlorians and sustains life past the point of death.
statedRevenge of the Sith (film) · 2005
Palpatine tells Anakin he could save others from dying — a story told by a liar to recruit.
Mandalore the Ultimateended the Mandalorian Wars with itKnights of the Old Republic 2003
Darth Malakhis own apprentice, aboard the Star ForgeKnights of the Old Republic 2003
Darth Nyrissby turning her own lightning aroundRevan 2011
Conquered the Republic, got mind-wiped, saved it, fell again, then spent three centuries as Vitiate's prisoner resisting a mind that ate a planet. The thing he is famous for is also the ceiling on him: his best weapon was always strategy, not raw output.
shownKnights of the Old Republic · 2003
Conquered the Republic as a Sith Lord, was captured and mind-wiped, then defeated Malak.
statedThe Old Republic · The Foundry
Survives roughly three hundred years in stasis still resisting the Emperor's domination. — 2011
Fought Sidious to a draw in the Senate chamber, then spent his exile learning from a dead man how to keep himself after his own body stopped, and taught the rest of the Order to do it.
shownRevenge of the Sith (film) · 2005
Duels Sidious in the Senate chamber to an inconclusive stalemate and withdraws.
shownRevenge of the Sith (novelisation) · novelisation, Matthew Stover
Qui-Gon's retained consciousness is the technique Yoda then learns and passes on. — 2005
The Massassi of Yavin 4drained an entire people to bind his spirit to the moonTales of the Jedi: The Sith War 1996
Vodo-Siosk Baashis own master, in the SenateTales of the Jedi: The Sith War 1995
Gantorisburned alive, four thousand years laterJedi Academy Trilogy: Dark Apprentice 1994
Burned the life out of his entire Massassi population to anchor his spirit to Yavin 4, then haunted it successfully for four thousand years and nearly took Luke's first class of students with him.
shownTales of the Jedi: The Sith War · issue 6
Drains the Massassi of Yavin 4 to tear his spirit free of his body and bind it to the moon. — 1996
shownJedi Academy Trilogy: Dark Apprentice · 1994
Four thousand years later he burns Gantoris alive and turns Kyp Durron against Luke.
Shaak Tibeaten, then she let herself fall into the sarlacc; canon later gave her a different deathThe Force Unleashed 2008
Kazdan Paratuson Raxus PrimeThe Force Unleashed 2008
Dragged a Star Destroyer down out of the sky with his hands. It is the feat every power-scaling argument reaches for, and the one that falls apart fastest when you check it: the novelisation has the ship already coming down and Starkiller merely aiming it, which is a different claim entirely.
shownThe Force Unleashed (game) · Raxus Prime
Drags a falling Star Destroyer off its course and down onto the ore facility. — 2008
shownThe Force Unleashed (novel) · 2008
The novelisation has him steering an already-crashing ship, a materially smaller feat than the game's.
Captain Antillesone-handed, in a corridor, before the film has a plotA New Hope 1977
Admiral Ozzel and Captain Needafor being slow, and for losing a shipThe Empire Strikes Back 1980
The Emperorpicked him up and dropped him down a shaft — and he came back anyway, twiceReturn of the Jedi 1983 · undone
Diminished, mechanical, in constant pain, and still the thing the galaxy is most afraid of. His decisive act isn't a duel — it's picking up an emperor and dropping him down a shaft.
shownReturn of the Jedi · 1983
Lifts Palpatine mid-lightning and throws him down the Death Star II reactor shaft.
shownRogue One · 2016
Boards the Profundity and cuts down a corridor of Rebel troopers to reach the plans.
Vrook Lamar, Kavar and Zez-Kai Ellall three at once, in a single confrontationKnights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords 2004
She is not the strongest hand on this list and it does not matter. Three Jedi Masters moved to cut the Exile off from the Force; she drained all three of them where they stood, in one go. The rest of the game she spends steering people who could kill her instantly — the Exile, Sion, Nihilus baited to Telos — from a position of no strength at all.
shownKnights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords · Trayus Academy
Articulates a critique of the Force itself that neither Jedi nor Sith doctrine answers. — 2004
shownKnights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords · 2004
Steers the Exile and Sion to her own ends, and baits Nihilus to Telos, from a position of weakness.
The Brotherhood of Darknessmanipulated Kaan into detonating the thought bomb, then walked out of itDarth Bane: Path of Destruction 2006
Destroyed the Sith to save them. Wore orbalisk armour, engineered the thought bomb that annihilated the Brotherhood of Darkness and stood outside its radius while it went off, and wrote the succession rule that was still running a thousand years later when it produced Palpatine.
shownDarth Bane: Path of Destruction · 2006
Engineers the thought bomb at Ruusan that annihilates the Brotherhood of Darkness, and survives it.
shownDarth Bane: Rule of Two · 2007
Trains Zannah under the two-Sith rule, and survives her first attempt to replace him.
Nelani Dinnthe first one, and the one that decided the restLegacy of the Force: Betrayal 2006
Onimithe true Supreme Overlord of the Yuuzhan VongThe New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force 2003
Mara Jade Skywalkerthe act that made him CaedusLegacy of the Force: Sacrifice 2007
Trained by everyone — Luke, Vergere, the Yuuzhan Vong, a Sith tribe — and ended up with a stranger toolkit than any of them. Flow-walking through time, and enough power to make the entire Jedi Order treat him as an existential problem.
shownDark Nest Trilogy: The Joiner King · 2005
Learns flow-walking, moving his consciousness through past events.
shownLegacy of the Force: Sacrifice · 2007
Murders Mara Jade Skywalker and takes the name Darth Caedus.
Jango Fettbeheaded, in the arenaAttack of the Clones 2002
The only duelist who beat Palpatine in a straight fight on screen, using a form that works by channelling the dark instead of refusing it. He loses to a betrayal, not to a swordsman.
shownRevenge of the Sith (film) · 2005
Disarms Sidious and has him beaten before Anakin intervenes.
statedShatterpoint · 2003
Vaapad channels the user's own darkness rather than suppressing it, and few can survive using it.
Tier 03 · everyone else you'd name
The ones you would name next
Genuinely formidable, comfortably outclassed by everything above.
Thrawn never touches the Force and beats people who do, repeatedly, by reading them. Bastila Shan's battle meditation swings entire fleet engagements. General Grievous collects the lightsabers of Jedi who were supposed to be safe. None of them can move a pebble with their mind.
shownHeir to the Empire · 1991
Thrawn reads a species' art to predict its tactics and destroys an Elomin task force, with no Force ability.
shownKnights of the Old Republic · 2003
Bastila's battle meditation decides fleet engagements outright on either side.
shownRevenge of the Sith (film) · 2005
Grievous carries the lightsabers of the Jedi he has killed as trophies.