Would a Federation warship like the Defiant out gun a Star Wars Star Destroyer? Who has a bigger armada? Who has the tactical advantage? Don’t forget that The Federation includes the Klingons, who love warfare and have fast, agile, heavily armed ships, with cloaking devices, and the Vulcans with superior logic and tactical planning.
100% Empire. Star Wars ships with hyper drivers are so much faster than Warp Drives. It takes the Millennium Falcon hours or a day to get across the galaxy. It takes Voyager 80+ years. It takes weeks to traverse the Federation alone. If the Empire was completely out classed in combat by Federation technology, and that’s a big if, the Empire would have zero issues just glassing every planet while the Federation would take days to respond.