Centripetal force can be best categorized as...

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Centripetal force is the inward net force that keeps an object moving in a circle. It isn’t a separate type of force like gravity; rather, gravity can provide that inward pull in some situations (for example, a planet orbiting a star), but centripetal force itself is not gravity. The idea of a centrifugal force is a fictitious outward force you’d feel in a rotating frame, not the actual force causing the inward acceleration. Inertia is the object’s tendency to resist changes in motion, not the inward force that bends the path. So centripetal force is best understood as the inward net force toward the center, not gravity itself.