I know powerscalling the Kirby franchise is a little bit complicated, considering the small amount of information we are usually given and how many of the ingame events are explicitly non canon. That's why I don't know if these sort of conversations are usual around here, I'm sorry if they are not

Anyway, I've always felt that there's a general agreement about Meta Knight being supposed to be on a higher powerlevel than King Dedede. There are several facts that enforce this belief:

\>Meta Knight appears as a boss later than King Dedede in many games, such as Super Star, Epic Yarn, Squeak Squad and Star Allies

\>Meta Knight's general attitude, While King Dedede actually cares about his fighting skills, that's why he wants to be strong enough to defend his interests and kingdom. Meta Knight, on the other hand, shows a much greater interest in fighting: he usually challenges Kirby to a fair battle, joins the Colisseum in Forgoten Land, wishes to face the stronger warrior in the galaxy...

\>He's conection to Kirby, who is obviously the most powerful being around, and possibly on even a higher level lorewise. We don't exactly know if they share species or not (we haven't been given any more informating regarding this, 30 years later), but there's still the suspicion; specially after the inclusion of new characters such as Galacta Knight and Morpho Knight, who look very similar to Meta Knight and are stated to be extremely powerful

\>Cross-media. In Kirby Right Back at Ya! he is part of the Star Warriors. We could even talk about how OP he was in Super Smash Bros. Brawl: obviously, the metagame of the fighting game doesn't take lore into account, but it's evident that Brawl Meta Knight has affected how the public see the character

  
However, King Dedede has also been stated to be very powerful within Pop Star, to the point many menaces consider him one of the biggest protectors of the planet, alongside Kirby and Meta Knight (which may be because his royal status gives him more exposure, but that's not the only motive). Both Meta Knight and Kirby have showed great respect towards King Dedede and we know that he has been training to become a better warrior and trusty leader (I'd say that's part of his character development for the last few years)

So, what do you think? Dedede migh have canonically reached Meta Knight as a warrior? Or are the Pink and Blue Blobs still on a higher tier lorewise?

Is Meta Knight actually stronger than King Dedede?