My immediate thoughts would be that I agree because I don’t see the logic why a small community wouldn’t need groups to me this should be a basic. Its like a car dealership giving you a test drive without the wheels fitted to the car.
However, from a business perspective, I know that the point is that you should see what you miss out on to nudge you to upgrade and become a customer - you’re not going to get a free feature rich version.
I just think there are other things that are currently restricted which are understandable but yeah groups is a basic as nearly everything is managed by groups.