Cookware materials each make a real, physical tradeoff between heat behavior, maintenance, and cost — there's no single "best" material, just the right one for how you actually cook.
The main materials
Stainless steel doesn't react with acidic foods (tomato sauce, wine-based sauces), is very durable, and handles high heat well — but it's a poor natural heat conductor on its own, which is why quality stainless pans usually have an aluminum or copper core sandwiched inside to spread heat evenly. Food sticks more easily than on nonstick, which is partly technique (proper preheating and enough fat) rather than purely a flaw.
Nonstick (PTFE/Teflon) makes cooking and cleanup dramatically easier and needs less oil, but can't take high heat, shouldn't be used with metal utensils, and the coating degrades over years of use — eventually needing replacement rather than lasting a lifetime like well-cared-for stainless or cast iron.
Cast iron retains and radiates heat exceptionally well, is nearly indestructible with basic care, and can go from stovetop to oven. It needs seasoning (a maintained layer of baked-on oil) to stay naturally nonstick, is heavy, and can react with very acidic, long-simmered foods if the seasoning is thin.
Carbon steel is essentially a lighter, faster-heating cousin of cast iron, popular for high-heat searing and stir-frying, with similar seasoning and care requirements.
The nonstick safety nuance most labels skip
PFOA, a chemical historically used in manufacturing Teflon, was voluntarily phased out by major cookware makers in the US by around 2013–2015. That means a "PFOA-free" label today isn't really a special claim — it's the legal baseline every modern nonstick pan meets.
The part worth actually knowing: "PFOA-free" is not the same as "PFAS-free." PTFE (Teflon) itself belongs to the broader PFAS chemical family, and some newer replacement chemicals used in manufacturing are structurally similar to PFOA with less long-term safety data. Intact, undamaged PTFE coatings are generally considered safe for normal cooking use, but the coating can release particles if it's scratched or overheated (roughly above 500°F / 260°C, well beyond normal stovetop cooking temperatures for most food). If you want to avoid the PFAS category entirely rather than just PFOA specifically, stainless steel, cast iron, and carbon steel are all naturally PFAS-free options.
The one thing people forget
Check that a pan's handle and any glass lid are actually oven-safe, and to what temperature, before assuming it can go from stovetop to oven. Some nonstick handles are only rated for a few hundred degrees, well below what a stainless or cast iron piece can handle — a detail that's easy to miss until it melts.