This would be a reasonable point to make if there were reasonable alternatives for simpler version control. But for better or worse the world has standardized on git for all version control. If you want your "two phd student implement a new algorithm in a small python/julia package" to be found/used/talked about you need to be on github.

Heck even if you want to host a static site you probably want to just be on github these days.

Yet to me there is no reason for version control to be this complex. The current github + git universe is locked in, but I don't see why it should be optimal.