Experience points, along with expertise 
, are granted by playing almost any content of Star Trek Online, e.g., defeating NPC or player enemies, completing missions/assignments, and so on. Experience points are comparable to those of other MMORPGs in that their accumulation causes the player to level up, i.e., increase in rank.
Experience points are no longer used as "currency" spent in the player's skill tree (comparable to a talent tree). Instead, gaining enough Experience points to level up will earn you Space Points and Ground Points, which are then used to improve and individualize your character.
It will take 366,000 
to progress a character to level 50, after which no Space or Ground points are earned as you gain level. With the level 51, Captain Specialization system is unlocked, earning you one Specialization Point each time you fill the XP bar.
Tier 5-U and Tier 6 playable starships can improve its Starship Mastery levels by earning Experience points for every defeated NPC or player enemies in space combat. With the release of Season Eighteen: Awakening, Patrols in the Patrol UI reward triple Experience Points.
| 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.
Specialization XP and beyond[]
From Level 50 on, character individualization is shifted from the skill tree to the Reputation system and the Captain Specialization, with the latter system using Specialization Points, awarded at each level from 51 to 65. After reaching Level 65 (being the current level cap), Experience Points are called Specialization Experience, and can be earned indefinitely. Every 159,100 Specialization XP grants one additional Specialization Point, using the Experience Point bar to show the character's progression.
Once all Specializations have been purchased any surplus points earned are converted into dilithium ore 
. More detail on the Captain Specialization main page
Note[]
- According to this forum post, for each skill point you receive in-game the game server internally records 100 to make sure that small bonuses accumulate correctly.