Dolt actually stores the tables, rows, and commits in a Merkle DAG, like Git. So you get branch and merge. You can't do branch and merge with snapshots.
(You also get the full git / github toolbox: push and pull, fork and clone, rebase, and most other git commands)
I suspect that's simply not the use-case they're targeting. You're thinking of a database as simply the persistence component for your service, a means to an end. For you, the service/app/software is the thing you're trying to deliver. Where this looks useful is the cases where the data itself is the thing you're trying to deliver.