Well, you can also get things like Boomstick or Thorn Chakram there too, which both do better than it.
Thorn Chakram specifically actually does more DPS when you’re in Blade of Grass’s range than the Blade itself as long as you have feral claws for autoswing (you should), which really hurts Blade’s niche.
On the topic of Thorn Chakram, I’d call that underrated. Ever since feral claws were given autoswing, it’s become *much* more powerful. Autoswing made a world of difference for it. You can basically spam it at enemies and deal consistent and pretty high damage, even more so as you get close to the enemy. It also has above average range for a pre-Hardmode melee weapon, and the benefits you listed for Blade of Grass. It was about as effective for Queen Bee and Skeletron as a Minishark when I used it after 1.4.1.