Star Trek: Every* Starbase Ranked Worst To Best
1. Deep Space Nine
Deep Space Nine tops out this list to the potential annoyance of Starfleet Corps of Engineers as it is the only non-Starfleet designed station here. The former Cardassian facility was built to process ore, utilising a Bajoran slave labour force. The station was designed by Rick Sternbach and Herman Zimmerman, first appearing in Emissary.
That DS9 is number one here seems like a no-brainer. It, along with Spacedock, is the most often seen space station in the franchise, as it appears in every episode of its eponymous series. The tacky Cardassian fascist eyesore lazily circles in space beside the Bajoran Wormhole, has seen several major battles in its time and was briefly lost to the Dominion at the beginning of the Dominion War.
It also stands out as one of the hero bases that was filmed almost exclusively with a real filming model, with only the final scene of What You Leave Behind using a CGI render. Though the design may not be to everyone's taste (looking at you, Shax) it remains a beautiful, elegant design. The filming model also pulled double duty, standing in for Empok Nor in several episodes, with the simple aesthetic choice - tilt it on its side.
For sheer exploration and time spent, Deep Space Nine remains the overall winner when it comes to ranking starbases in Star Trek. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to circle those pylons one more time.