Funny, I thought you mentioned the VPS because you could still reverse tunnel and share the app in your laptop without deploying. I was going to say that it's still a good idea since the day pass is just $1.

p.s. surprised they didn't go for 99 cents

The main page seems focused on simplicity and short sentences. I think they thought that $0.99 would have looked too noisy compared to $1.

It's possible that they are also pandering to people like me who dislike prices written in that way. I am annoyed by the chore of mentally adding one to every price ending in 99 cents, and I respect sellers who write prices like that less.

No, you can reverse tunnel through a VPS and get the same effect, but you're paying 2-5x as much for virtually the same thing (unless you already have a VPS).