Not sure why you feel that added features result in "bloat". We've been on Gitlab for 4 years now, and our core workflow not only hasn't changed, but also has not been impacted by any of the new features. On the other hand, we've expanded our usage beyond it, and it's always nice to need a feature and find out that it is right there under a menu and just needs some configuration to get it to work.

With them dropping the lowest license tier, you better start using all the features... We have been Enterprise users since 2015, but are evaluating our options.