Layer Auto-Sort

ArcGIS Pro keeps its table of contents tidy by data type, so nothing is hidden under a basemap. Layer Auto-Sort does the same for the QGIS Layers panel. Each new layer is placed at the top of its own type band as it is added, so a basemap or other web raster added later lands at the bottom instead of on top. What is already there can be sorted on demand.

Default order, top to bottom: annotation layers, tables (no geometry), points, lines, polygons, vector layers of unknown geometry, vector tiles, point clouds, 3D tiles, mesh layers, local rasters (DEM, orthophoto, imagery), and last web rasters and basemaps (WMS, WMTS, XYZ, WCS, ArcGIS).

1. Nothing to do for new layers: they are placed as they are added.
2. To tidy what is already there, choose Sort Layers by Type from the Layers panel right-click menu or the Layer Auto-Sort submenu.
3. To stop the automatic placement, untick Auto-sort New Layers.
4. To use a different order, open Layer Sort Settings, drag the types, and press OK.

• Sorting is stable: layers of the same type keep the order they already had. Groups keep their position; only the layers around them are arranged.
• A saved project is never reordered when it opens. Only layers added afterwards are placed.
• Every way of adding a layer is covered — Browser and Catalog, Add Data, Processing results, other plugins. Moving a layer yourself is never undone, and opening a layer package keeps the order recorded in the package.
• Moving a layer never removes it from the project. Visibility, expansion and properties are kept, and the selected layer stays selected.
• When several layers are added at once (a multi-file drop), the layers of one type may end up in reverse of the order they were added in.
• The order and the switches are stored in the QGIS user profile, not in the project.
• If the stand-alone plugin "Layer Auto-Sort" (layer_autosort) is installed, KGA Toolbox leaves its own copy out and says so, so layers are not sorted twice.