Akira Toriyama loves robots so much that you could call Dragon Ball an essential piece of retro futurism literature and you honestly wouldn’t be wrong. As much as Dragon Ball is a martial arts story rooted in Wuxia, it’s also a light science fiction with more than a few aesthetic qualities making it so. Even before the characters go out into outer space, we have: capsule technology, artificial intelligence, and augmented beings. Everyone remembers the Androids playing a part in the Cell saga, but Toriyama established Artificial Humans all the way back in the third arc of the series: the Red Ribbon Army arc.

Androids have always played a role in the Dragon Ball mythos, both in the main story and the side stories. With everything Dragon Ball, though, there comes the question: “who’s the strongest?” Compiled before you is a list of the twenty most relevant Androids in the entire franchise. Fused fighters need not apply, but GT, the movies, and the video games do play a role. So long as they’re designed by Toriyama, at least. These aren't just Red Ribbon Army androids, either. Get ready to see every Artificial Human ranked against one another in order to find the single strongest Android in all of Dragon Ball.

20 Eighter

Eighter, otherwise known as Hacchan, is the first of Dr. Gero’s creations we actually see in the series. That we know of at least. He’s introduced during the Muscle Tower portion of the Red Ribbon Army arc and goes on to help Goku defeat General White. Given his rather early appearance within the series, it goes without saying that Eighter isn’t particularly strong.

He’s strong enough to defeat a Red Ribbon general, mind you, but he’s only about as strong as Goku at the time, who’s still weaker than Master Roshi at this point. With that in mind, and taking into account Eighter’s docile nature, he’s only around 21st Budokai Goku’s strength for the whole series. It’s certainly impressive for the time, but nothing to write home about in the grand scheme of Dragon Ball.

19 Major Metallitron

While Eighter is the first Dr. Gero android we see in the series, Major Metallitron is the first Red Ribbon Army android we see. Unsurprisingly introduced in the Red Ribbon Army arc, Goku fights Major Metallitron just a few shorts chapters before meeting up with Eighter. Metallitron actually puts up an impressive fight, nearly defeating Goku thanks to all the weapons at his disposal. He loses, of course, but his fight against Goku gives the impression that he would have easily secured Muscle Tower had Goku been anybody else.

18 Cyborg TaoPaiPai

With the end of the Red Ribbon Army arc, it wouldn’t be until two whole sagas later that Dragon Ball would be graced with yet another artificial human. Fittingly, it’s another character with ties to the Red Ribbon Army, but there’s a twist. It’s a returning character! After seemingly being blown up by Goku halfway through the Red Ribbon Army arc, TaoPaiPai returns for revenge in the 23rd Budokai. This time as a cyborg.

Dragon Ball's first real villain gets a nice boost for its finale. 

There’s yet another twist with Cyborg TaoPaiPai’s role in the story arc in that, despite being built up as a major villain, he exists solely for Tien Shinhan to defeat him in the first round thus completing Tien’s character arc. Cyborg TaoPaiPai is also used as a benchmark for the saga. He’s undeniably incredibly powerful, but Tien beats him effortlessly, paving the way for the intense fight between Goku and Piccolo later on.

17 Mecha Frieza

While there’s only a two arc gap between Cyborg TaoPaiPai and Mecha Frieza, it’s important to remember how much longer Dragon Ball Z’s arcs are. Two arcs in Dragon Ball typically only took up a year while two arcs of DBZ easily took up around three. Toriyama made the right call in waiting so long, though, as Mecha Frieza’s appearance perfectly kicked off the Android arc.

Also known as the Artificial Human arc in Japan, the Android saga could not have a better preliminary villain than Frieza. He’s set up as a much stronger danger without Goku around. There’s a tension revolving around how our heroes can beat him until Trunks shows up and defeats Frieza effortlessly. From there, Trunks reveals that there are even stronger opponents than Frieza. It’s a moment that gets the arc off to a hot start while using Frieza as a basis for what’s to come.

16 Android 19

The first android to be defeated in the Cell saga is also, understandably, the weakest of the bunch. While Android 19 does technically defeat Goku in battle, it’s important to remember that Goku was having a literal heart attack. When Vegeta shows up, it doesn’t take long for Android 19 to feel fear for the first time in the face of the Prince of All Saiyans.

There's a lot of potential brewing in this clown. 

That said, as there must always be a “that said,” Vegeta does exhaust himself quite a bit while fighting 19. He deliberately allows 19 to absorb his energy just to test if the Androids really can grow stronger through absorption. With enough time, and enough Ki to absorb, Android 19 very easily could have turned into one of the strongest Androids in the series.

15 Android 14

It almost seems unfair to rank Androids 14 and 15 separately considering just how worthless both characters end up being in the grand scheme of things, but a bit of lateral thinking can be used to figure out which Android is weaker and which is stronger. Since Future Trunks fights Android 14 in the film, and is actually the weakest of the Super Saiyans, it goes without saying that Android 14 must be the weakest of the Androids. Of course, this idea only works if you accept the idea that Vegeta would deliberately fight the stronger Android, leaving fodder for his son. Let’s be real, though, why wouldn’t you believe that?

14 Android 15

Obviously, Vegeta is going to leave the weaker Android for his weaker son so it goes without saying that Android 15 is the stronger of Android 13’s flunkies. It makes sense when you remember how Toriyama likes to design his villains, too. The Androids in movie 7 were actually designed by Toriyama, and he consistently makes his smaller characters stronger than his larger characters when pairing them up. It’s why Vegeta is stronger than Nappa in the Saiyan saga, it’s meant to take audiences by surprise and build suspense. Android 15 is that for Android 14. A slightly stronger purple dwarf.

13 Android 13

The titular villain of movie 7, Android 13 is easily one of the weirder villains to rank on this list. Given where the film falls in terms of continuity (not that it’s actually canon,) it’s implied that he’s stronger than Dr. Gero and the Android twins. Unfortunately, everything in the film points to 13 being weaker than the canon Androids.

Who knew truckers could be so strong? 

Even in his super form, it just takes a half-hearted Genki Dama… thing to defeat him. The Z-Fighters are able to take him out in a single fight they weren’t prepared for whereas the main Androids throttled them in a fight they trained three years for. The only way 13 can make sense as a villain is if he’s weaker than Gero, 17, and 18.

12 Dr. Gero

Speaking of Dr. Gero, that old geezer’s surprisingly tough all things considered. By just augmenting his body, Gero is able to go from a weak scientist to someone who arguably rivals final form Freeza in terms of power. Along with his ability to absorb Ki like Android 19, Dr. Gero can theoretically grow even stronger. Unfortunately, or fortunately for our heroes, he loses his life at the hands of his own creations before he can actually do something substantial in order to prove his strength.

11 Future Android 18

For whatever reason, Future Trunks traveling through time causes a butterfly effect where the main timeline Androids end up far stronger than the Androids he dealt with. Future 18, while strong enough to give Trunks trouble, apparently doesn’t even compare to main 18. She’s powerful enough to nearly wipe out the Earth, but not so strong where Future Trunks can’t come back and effortlessly destroy her at the end of the Cell saga. Her quick defeat really puts into perspective just how different the two timelines are.

10 Future Android 17

Speaking of the future timeline, there’s also Future Android 17. Just like in the main timeline, 17 is just a bit stronger than 18, although he actually proves himself as a threat in a clearer way. In both the manga and anime, Future Android 17 is directly responsible for Future Gohan’s demise. Granted, Future Gohan is only about as strong as his father was as a Super Saiyan on Namek, but the future isn’t really an environment to train in. That said, given how easily Trunks defeats the Future Androids, and how Future Gohan was only around SSJ Goku levels of power, we can assume they were probably just a bit stronger than Dr. Gero from the main timeline.

9 Android 16

The strongest of the Artificial Human trio in Dragon Ball Z also ends up the weakest of the bunch once we head into Dragon Ball Super. To be fair, Android 16 is also one of the only characters to get completely eviscerated and not get revived with the Dragon Balls, but that’s neither here nor there.

16 is a lover of nature and all things pertaining to Goku's inevitable demise. 

In terms of raw power, Android 16 is the only Android who actually manages to put up a solid fight against Cell at any point during the arc. He’s able to hold Imperfect Cell back for a reasonably long time and, had they fought before Cell started absorbing people, Android 16 actually would have won the fight, ending the Cell saga right then and there.

8 Cell Junior

We get another big gap in power coming off the trails of Android 16. While the Cell Juniors are never given an approximate level of power, they’re able to hold their own in fights against Super Saiyan Vegeta and Super Saiyan Trunks during the Cell Games at least implying they’re somewhere around Semi-Perfect Cell’s level. Worth noting, a Cell Junior does absolute kick Goku into the ground, but Goku was exhausted after fighting Perfect Cell. If you want to be really generous, you can place them closer to Perfect Cell’s power level than Semi-Perfect Cell’s.

7 Cell

Speaking of Cell, the original Dragon Ball’s penultimate villain is also one of the strongest. In a sense, Cell is basically the perfection of the formula Dr. Gero used to develop himself and Android 19. He can’t absorb Ki, but he does get stronger by absorbing humans, at least in his Imperfect Form. From there, he gets significant boosts in power by absorbing his Android brethren.

He's the greenest and the meanest of the Androids. He's Perfect. 

Cell is also the only major antagonist to undergo a Zenkai, coming back as a Super Saiyan of sorts after he tries to blow himself up. He’s still weaker than Super Saiyan 2 Gohan post-Zenkai, but he’s so far ahead of everyone’s else’s league that literally only Gohan could defeat him by the end of the arc. In the right context, Cell could likely train and get even stronger.

6 GT 18

Dragon Ball GT treated many of its characters poorly. There’s a good reason fans called it “Goku Time” for so long. If you weren’t Goku, you weren’t going to do much, plain and simple. The only other character in the anime who actually got to contribute consistently was Pan. Except in the Super Android 17 saga, that is. With the return of 17, Toei at least had the foresight to realize how fitting 18 would be taking center stage.

She doesn’t exactly take center stage, mind you, but she gets a nice boost. In the jump from DBZ to DBGT, 18 becomes strong enough to actually help Goku in the fight against Super Android 17. She doesn’t accomplish much in the grand scheme of things, but she is the only Z-Fighters to damage him in more than a minor way. That’s worth something.

5 Fighter 17 (From Below)

As Dragon Ball GT takes place firmly within the Dragon Ball Z anime’s continuity, it goes without saying that it inherits some of DBZ’s filler elements. Most notably, Toei’s depiction of the dark below. Starting with the end of the Cell saga, Toei abandoned Toriyama’s spiritual place in favor of a physical one where villains could make cameos. GT actually ended up using this as a plot point.

The Home For Infinite Losers was kind to 17.

In the down below, both Dr. Gero and Dr. Myuu work together to build a new Android 17: Hell Fighter 17. This 17 is stronger than the original 17 and, when absorbing his original counterpart, turns into Super Android 17. His existence is completely nonsensical when you try to root it in canon, but he’s strong nonetheless.

4 Android 18

Dragon Ball Super was far kinder to Android 18 than Dragon Ball GT was to her. While both series gave her a nice boost in power to keep up with villains, Dragon Ball Super actually used her appropriately. In Dragon Ball GT, 18 tries and fails to defeat Super Android 17. In Dragon Ball Super, 18 actually manages to defeat Ribrianne during the Tournament of Power, Universe 2’s de facto leader. She actually contributes to Universe 7’s victory in a major way, defeating an opponent who had been badgering them since the beginning of the Tournament. In terms of power, she’s likely around SSJ3 Goku by the Universe Survival arc, a massive boost from where she left off in DBZ.

3 Super Android 17

The result of Android 17 and Hell Fighter 17 merging together in Dragon Ball GT, Super Android 17 serves as the series’ penultimate villain. He’s not nearly as dangerous as Baby was, but he poses enough of a threat to nearly defeat Goku. In fact, the way Goku actually ends up winning is often mocked by fans due to how out of nowhere and comparatively absurd it is to Baby’s defeat. For all intents and purposes, Super Android 17 actually should have won their fight based on how they were fighting. With the word “Super” in his title, it’s easy to think that Super Android 17 is the strongest depiction of the character, but there’s a different Super that does him a bit better.

2 Android 17

It’s honestly crazy just how strong Android 17 became in the jump from Dragon Ball Z from Dragon Ball Super. While Dragon Ball GT also gave him a noticeable boost in power, Super’s treatment of 17 is on another level entirely. In GT, Goku was able to defeat Super Android 17 in his base form after wearing him down in Super Saiyan 4. In Super, Android 17 damages Jiren, a character not even Super Saiyan Evolution Vegeta could hurt.

Be careful who you call weak in Dragon Ball Z.

Granted, 17 only damages him through a sneak attack, but that doesn’t change all that much. The point is that he fights smart and hits hard. In terms of actual power, fans place him around Super Saiyan Blue level, but his feats seem to point to him being around Super Saiyan God Goku. Either way, he’s managed to reach God levels of power by just training casually.

1 Android 21

Android 21 may not exactly be canon, but she was designed by Toriyama himself and that has to count for something. As much a Majin as she is an Artificial Human, Android 21 is basically the super baby of Majin Buu and Cell. Or Majin Buu and Android 18. Or literally any Majin and any Android, but also scaled up to match the Battle Power shown throughout Dragon Ball Super.

She may not be canon, but she can pack one heck of a punch. 

The point is that she’s strong. As far as just how strong she is, it takes a joint effort from the Z-Fighters just to take her down. With that in mind, she’s likely around Super Saiyan God/light Super Saiyan Blue tier. You could argue that Android 17 is actually a bit stronger given his display in the Tournament of Power, but 21 has the power of being non-canon on her side.