10 Best Compressor Plugins?

Larry,
 
Severely important topic.
 
Bottom feeder mentality here, so haven't tried some of the entries as I'd have to spend something. Also depends on what you are using a comp for.  I use a comp for squashing a guitar signal, so not looking for transparency as one might seek for end point mastering.
 
From a guitar banger perspective, some noble candidates are not mentioned. Couple free, and some not anymore.
 
Vitamin C from Distorque. Faithful circuit from the Orange comp (chugging rebound included). Check out their other freebies also. Vit C hardware stomp reported used by Santana and the Dire Straits dude.
 
http://distorqueaudio.com/plugins/vitamin-c.html
 
Eventide UltraChannel (closed my eyes so as not to see how much is costs now. One of the only plugs I considered the benefit/risk ratio worth the degradation to have an Ilok account involved). Still can't find a damned crack for this one.
 
http://eventideplugins.elasticbeanstalk.com/ultrachannel.jsp
 
AudioDamage Rough Rider. Was so inspired by the free version that I got the pro plug, and still go back to the freebie.
 
https://www.audiodamage.c...product.php?pid=ADF002
 
Not really a compressor, but a limiter full of squash and irritating rebound chug. Cakewalk's ancient BoostII unit. Way cool in my book.
 
Sneaking the “R” word under the radar, but Reaper published their ReaPlugs suite with an excellent compressor. Free and compatible with Cakewalk. Don't have to love Reaper to love their free suite. Of interest in the suite pertaining to this is the ReaGate. Excellent noise gate after the comp.
 
http://www.reaper.fm/reaplugs/
 
So many compressors, so little time.
 
John
 

I once attempted to assemble such a list myself, but quickly realized the only objective measure was the feature set, and that's not an adequate basis for any "best of" ranking.
 
Ease-of-use trumps everything else by a wide margin. That's why LA2A and 1176 clones are so popular: they don't require any study or experimentation or instructional videos.
 
However, versatility also has to be considered. A two-knob opto can be perfectly adequate for many jobs, but not for anything surgical. 
 
Thirdly, cost is a factor. Something like Tokyo Dawn's Kotelnikov will always rate highly (why isn't it on that list?), despite being a little obtuse and feature-light, because it's free. 
 
Last on my list of priorities is its "sound". If a compressor sounds bad, it's either broken or you're using it wrong. Claims that a compressor "sounds musical" or that it has "mojo" are nonsense. Some are easier to dial in than others, that's all.
 
So how does one rank, say, DMG Compassion? If you're just counting features, it deserves to be very high on the list for its versatility. But it's fairly expensive, and its complicated UI will keep many users from exploiting all of its capabilities.
 
I have other issues with that list, too. Why would one 1176 clone be better than another? Don't tell me it's because of more accurate modeling, because no two real 1176s sound exactly alike. And where are all the full-featured compressors? Is H-Comp really a better investment than something with adjustable knee, RMS detection, sidechain filters, intelligent release, oversampling, M/S, limiting and negative ratios?
 
The list should be titled "10 Good Compressors".