Palworld has many weapons but a lot of them are much to be desired in terms of performance compared to others. This will focus on early, mid, and late game weapons and what's good to use for each.
Starter Weapons (crafting bench)
S-Tier: 3 Shot Bow
A-Tier: Fire Bow, Poison Bow
B-Tier: Old Bow
C-Tier: Bat, Stone Spear
D-Tier: Meat Cleaver
Early Game Weapons (ingot)
S-Tier: Handgun
A-Tier: Makeshift Handgun, Musket, Katana
B-Tier: Makeshift shotgun, Makeshift SMG, Makeshift Assault Rifle
C-Tier: Fire Crossbow, Poison Crossbow
Mid Game Weapons (refined ingot)
S-Tier: Assault Rifle, Semi-Auto Rifle, Pump Action Shotgun
A-Tier: Old Revolver, Compound Bow, Semi-Auto Shotgun
B-Tier: Single-Shot Rifle, SMG, Double Barrell Shotgun
C-Tier: Grenades
D-Tier: Melee Weapons
Late Game Weapons (palmetal ingot & plasteel)
S-Tier: Rocket Launcher (slow reload but destroys everything in a large radius, 2nd best gun in game)
A-Tier: Flamethrower, Laser Rifle
B-Tier: Grenade Launcher, Gatling Gun
C-Tier: Guided Missile Launcher (worse version of rocket launcher), Frag Grenade mk2
D-Tier: Meteor Launcher (not a lot of damage for ammo that's hard to find)
End Game Weapons (Hexolite)
S-Tier: Plasma Cannon (best gun in the game)
A-Tier: Laser Gatling Gun (3rd best gun in the game)
B-Tier: Advanced Bow (good single target but better weapons exist)