Anyway, I think that Podman is the mature Docker and tries to fit much better into the linux/unix-y way of doing things. Especially, being daemonless allows to integrate into systemd, etc. the way it should, and makes for a mature integration of containers into the ecosystem.
Docker?
Of course, when orchestration became a necessity, almost everyone looked in the direction of Kubernetes, as opposed to something like Nomad or Swarm, probably due to its popularity.
It is true that there once was a disclaimer on the compose homepage that stated that the product was not recommended for production workloads.
Given that disclaimer no longer exists, along with the existence of [1], leads me to advocate using it in production.