The custom Github Actions approach is very customisable and flexible. In theory you could make and even auto approve bumps.

If you want something more structured, I’ve been playing with and can recommend Renovate (no affiliation). Renovate supports far more ecosystems, has a better community and customisation.

Having tried it I can’t believe how relatively poor Dependabot, the default tool is something we put up with by default. Take something simple like multi layer dockerfiles. This has been a docker features for a while now, yet it’s still silently unsupported by dependabot!

That's what a lack of competition does. Github is entrenched, complacent.