MariaDB as a backend database

I know WordPress expects to use MySQL as it’s database backend, but can I switch to using MariaDB instead?

MariaDB is a fork of MySQL that includes a bunch of really nice improvements for management and has some great SQL language improvements.

Yes, you can use MariaDB. MariaDB is a drop-in replacement for MYSQL so compatibility is not an issue. WordPress even lists MariaDB as an option within the requirements on their website:

We recommend servers running version 7.2 or greater of PHP and MySQL version 5.6 OR MariaDB version 10.0 or greater.

Here is a resource from MariaDB on this topic https://mariadb.com/resources/blog/how-install-and-run-wordpress-mariadb.