# Who is the best Star Trek captain of all time?

> Diplomats, cowboys, wartime commanders and one animated bureaucrat — every chair on every bridge, argued over by fans for sixty years. Who deserves the centre seat?

*By YPB Team · Published July 31, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/who-is-the-best-star-trek-captain-of-all-time*

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## Current results (3 votes)

1. **Jean-Luc Picard** — 100% (3 votes · score 1000/1000)
   Patrick Stewart's diplomat-scholar, captain of the Enterprise-D across seven seasons of The Next Generation.
2. **James T. Kirk** — 0% (0 votes · score 610/1000)
   William Shatner's original Enterprise captain, the impulsive template every successor is measured against.
3. **Benjamin Sisko** — 0% (0 votes · score 356/1000)
   Avery Brooks' station commander on Deep Space Nine, the first Black lead of a Trek series and its most morally conflicted captain.
4. **Spock** — 0% (0 votes · score 356/1000)
   The Vulcan first officer who commanded the Enterprise between Kirk's tours in the film era.
5. **Kathryn Janeway** — 0% (0 votes · score 356/1000)
   Kate Mulgrew's Voyager captain, stranded 70,000 light years from home and the franchise's first female lead.
6. **Christopher Pike** — 0% (0 votes · score 261/1000)
   Anson Mount's Enterprise captain on Strange New Worlds, a role first played by Jeffrey Hunter in the 1965 pilot.
7. **Michael Burnham** — 0% (0 votes · score 261/1000)
   Sonequa Martin-Green's Discovery lead, who rose from convicted mutineer to captain.
8. **Jonathan Archer** — 0% (0 votes · score 261/1000)
   Scott Bakula's Enterprise NX-01 captain, humanity's first deep-space explorer a century before Kirk.
9. **Robert April** — 0% (0 votes · score 261/1000)
   The Enterprise's very first captain, canonised decades after his 1973 animated-series debut.
10. **Carol Freeman** — 0% (0 votes · score 145/1000)
   The demanding captain of the USS Cerritos in the animated comedy Lower Decks.

Tags: tv shows, sci-fi, characters, star trek