Are kids' debit card apps like Greenlight and GoHenry safe?

Yes, with the usual caveats. All five apps in this review are FDIC-insured through partner banks (Greenlight uses Community Federal Savings Bank, GoHenry uses Sutton Bank, Cash App uses Sutton/Wells Fargo). The bigger safety question is data: a 2024 Mozilla Privacy Not Included audit flagged Greenlight and GoHenry for collecting more behavioral data than necessary. Read each app's privacy policy before signing up.

At what age should a kid get their first debit card?

There's no legal minimum (parents sponsor the account), but most child-development experts including the American Academy of Pediatrics suggest age 8 as a reasonable floor. Before 8, kids benefit more from physical cash because they need to see and touch money to understand it. Cash App's new 2026 accounts open at 6, but that doesn't mean a 6-year-old needs one.

Is a free allowance calculator really enough, or am I missing something?

For ages 3-10, a free calculator plus a weekly conversation covers most of what a paid app would do. Apps add value for older kids (11+) who need real card-based experience, not for younger kids whose lessons are still concrete.

How does Cash App's new family account compare to Greenlight?

Cash App is free; Greenlight starts at $5.99 a month. Cash App has no chore tracker, no savings goals, no learning content; Greenlight has all three. If you want a payments rail and nothing else, Cash App wins. If you want a teaching platform with a card attached, Greenlight is worth the $72 a year.

Can I use multiple tools together?

Yes, and many families do. A common stack: a free allowance calculator for setting the weekly amount, a printable chore chart on the fridge, and one paid card app once the child turns 10 or 11. There's no rule that you have to pick one ecosystem. Start free, upgrade only when you hit a friction point an app actually solves.

What is the best free kids budgeting tool?

For setting and splitting an allowance, a free budget planner beats a paid app for most younger kids. Penny Time's Kids Budget Planner divides any amount into save, spend, and give with no signup, and the Savings Goal calculator shows how long until a child can afford a goal. Paid card apps add value once a child is 11 or older and spending digitally, but the budgeting math itself is free.

How do the top kids' allowance apps compare on features and cost?

The five main options in 2026: Cash App (free, a debit card and parental controls, but no chore tracker or lessons), Greenlight ($5.99 to $19.98 a month, the most complete dashboard with chores, savings goals and investing), Acorns Early ($8 a month for up to 4 kids, strong value for larger families), Dinner Table Economy (a paid family subscription built around a money game), and Penny Time plus free calculators (free, best for teaching the math without a card). Cost tracks features: the free apps hand you a card and leave the teaching to you, the paid ones automate chores, savings and investing.

How much do allowance apps cost for a family with several kids?

Per-child pricing varies a lot, so compare the whole-family total, not the headline rate. Acorns Early is the flat-fee value pick at $8 a month for up to 4 kids. Greenlight covers up to 5 kids from $5.99 a month on its Core plan. Cash App is free per child, so three kids still cost nothing. Dinner Table Economy charges a single family subscription. For two or more kids, a flat-fee or free plan almost always beats a per-child charge.

By the Penny Time editorial team May 21, 2026

Reviewed by the Penny Time editorial team

Part of our Allowance hub.

Best Allowance Apps for Kids and Teens in 2026: A Calculator-vs-Card Comparison

Most allowance app reviews are affiliate-driven. This one isn't. We'll cover what each of the five major options actually does in 2026, what they cost, and the question most reviews skip: do you even need an app, or is a free calculator and a Sunday conversation enough? For families just starting out, the honest answer is often the second one.

The two-question test: do you need an app at all?

Before paying $5.99 to $15.98 a month for a kids' debit card, ask two things:

Is your child's allowance mostly cash, or mostly digital? A 6-year-old getting $5 in coins each Saturday gains almost nothing from a card. A 13-year-old splitting Roblox, lunch money and a savings goal benefits hugely.
Are you trying to teach the math, or automate the chore tracking? A free allowance calculator plus a printed chore chart teaches the same save/spend/give split that paid apps charge for. Apps win when life is too busy to track manually.

No app replaces the conversation. It just removes friction.

The five major options compared

App	Best for ages	Monthly cost (2026)	Debit card	Chore tracking
Cash App (new family accounts)	6-12 (added April 2026)	Free	Yes, sponsored by parent	No built-in chores
Greenlight	6-17	$5.99 to $19.98	Yes	Yes
Acorns Early (formerly GoHenry)	6-18	$8 flat (up to 4 kids)	Yes	Yes, with custom tasks
Dinner Table Economy (was GravyStack)	7-17	Family subscription (in-app)	Yes	Game-based quests
Penny Time + free calculators	3-17	Free	No (pair with bank)	Printable + digital

Cash App family accounts (launched April 2026)

The newest entrant. Cash App opened sponsored accounts for ages 6-12 in April 2026, joining the 13-17 tier that has existed since 2021. Parents sponsor, control spending limits and see every transaction. The killer feature is price: $0 a month. The trade-off is that Cash App has no chore tracker, no savings buckets and no parent-facing learning content. It's a card with rails, not a curriculum. Good for older kids whose parents will teach the lessons themselves.

Greenlight

The category leader, with over 6 million users as of late 2025. Four tiers ($5.99 Core, $10.98 Max, $15.98 Infinity, and a $19.98 Family Shield plan that adds whole-family credit and identity monitoring). You get debit cards, chore lists, savings goals with parent-paid interest, and an investing module on Max and above. Honest downside: the price stacks fast for multi-child families, and the in-app learning videos lean light. Worth it if you want one dashboard for chores, allowance, savings and a first stock purchase.

Acorns Early (formerly GoHenry in the US)

GoHenry's US service has been rebranded to Acorns Early since the 2023 Acorns acquisition (the UK brand stays GoHenry). It now costs a flat $8 per month for up to 4 kids on the Acorns Early Lite plan, or it is included with an Acorns Gold subscription at $12 per month. You get custom chore tasks, age-appropriate Money Missions lessons, and parent-controlled spend categories. The flat $8 fee covering up to 4 kids gives it strong unit economics for larger families, and the card design is among the strongest in the category for kids who care about that.

Dinner Table Economy (formerly GravyStack)

GravyStack rebranded to Dinner Table Economy in 2026, and its old site now redirects to dinnertable.com. It is a family subscription built around a game where kids earn real money by completing financial-literacy challenges, so the learning is the most game-driven of the five options. Pricing is set inside the app, so check the current family rate on the App Store before you subscribe. The trade-off with any gamified app: once the novelty fades, some kids stop opening it.

Penny Time plus free calculators

The not-an-app option. Penny Time handles tracking and conversation prompts. The free tools at /learn/ handle the math: allowance amounts by age, birthday money split planning, wants vs. needs sorting, and a kids budgeting tool. Pair with any free bank account that issues a teen card (Capital One MONEY, Chase First) and total cost is $0.

Which of these allowance apps are actually free?

Only two of the five cost nothing. Cash App's parent-managed accounts are free on both the new 6-12 tier and the older 13-17 tier, and Penny Time paired with the free calculators at /learn/ costs $0. Greenlight (from $5.99 a month), Acorns Early (from $8 a month) and Dinner Table Economy (a paid family subscription) all charge a monthly fee with no permanently free plan. So if "free" is the deciding factor, the real choice is a Cash App card for digital spending, or a free allowance calculator plus cash for younger kids. Everything else is a subscription worth starting only once it solves a problem cash cannot.

What is the best money app for a kid under 13?

For an under-13 kid who is ready for a card, Cash App's parent-managed account (opened to ages 6-12 in April 2026, free, fully parent-controlled) is the simplest pick, because most other kids' cards were built for the 13-plus tier. For kids under 8, skip the apps: cash, a clear jar and a free allowance calculator teach the save, spend and give split better than a screen can. Greenlight and Acorns Early open at age 6 as well, but they add a monthly fee for chore tracking and savings goals a younger child may not use yet. The full age-by-age picks are just below.

How to choose in under five minutes

Child age 3-7: Skip the apps. Use cash, a clear jar and the allowance calculator. Apps don't teach a five-year-old anything physical money can't.
Age 8-12, one or two kids, light needs: Cash App family account. Free, simple, parents teach the lessons.
Age 8-12, want chores plus card plus savings goals automated: Acorns Early at a flat $8 for up to 4 kids, or Greenlight Core if you want investing later.
Age 10-15, child loves games: Dinner Table Economy (formerly GravyStack). The quest model holds attention longer than a transaction history.
Age 13-17, real spending plus first investing lesson: Greenlight Max.
Any age, parent wants to teach without monthly fees: Penny Time plus a free teen bank card.

What actually decides whether an app helps

Whether the tracking happens in an app or on paper matters less than whether it keeps happening. That is the strongest argument for picking whichever option your family will actually use for six months, rather than the one with the best feature list.

The fanciest app you abandon in week three is worse than the printable chore chart you stick with for a year.

The best free kids budgeting tool (no card required)

If you searched for a kids budgeting tool, you may not need a paid card at all. Penny Time's free Kids Budget Planner splits any allowance into save, spend, and give in seconds, and the Savings Goal calculator shows a child how many weeks until they can afford the thing they want. Both are free, need no signup, and pair with any of the cards above or with cash. For most families starting out, a budget planner plus a weekly conversation does the budgeting job a $6-a-month app charges for.

Skip the $6-a-month card while they're young

Penny Time is free, needs no card, and turns allowance into real money lessons your kid can practice today.

Greenlight starts at $5.99 a month for its Core plan and runs to $19.98 for Family Shield, with no permanently free tier (greenlight.com/plans, checked August 2026).

Frequently Asked Questions

: Yes, with the usual caveats. All five apps in this review are FDIC-insured through partner banks (Greenlight uses Community Federal Savings Bank, GoHenry uses Sutton Bank, Cash App uses Sutton/Wells Fargo). The bigger safety question is data: a 2024 Mozilla Privacy Not Included audit flagged Greenlight and GoHenry for collecting more behavioral data than necessary. Read each app's privacy policy before signing up.
: There's no legal minimum (parents sponsor the account), but most child-development experts including the American Academy of Pediatrics suggest age 8 as a reasonable floor. Before 8, kids benefit more from physical cash because they need to see and touch money to understand it. Cash App's new 2026 accounts open at 6, but that doesn't mean a 6-year-old needs one.
: For ages 3-10, a free calculator plus a weekly conversation covers most of what a paid app would do. Apps add value for older kids (11+) who need real card-based experience, not for younger kids whose lessons are still concrete.
: Cash App is free; Greenlight starts at $5.99 a month. Cash App has no chore tracker, no savings goals, no learning content; Greenlight has all three. If you want a payments rail and nothing else, Cash App wins. If you want a teaching platform with a card attached, Greenlight is worth the $72 a year.
: Yes, and many families do. A common stack: a free allowance calculator for setting the weekly amount, a printable chore chart on the fridge, and one paid card app once the child turns 10 or 11. There's no rule that you have to pick one ecosystem. Start free, upgrade only when you hit a friction point an app actually solves.
: For setting and splitting an allowance, a free budget planner beats a paid app for most younger kids. Penny Time's Kids Budget Planner divides any amount into save, spend, and give with no signup, and the Savings Goal calculator shows how long until a child can afford a goal. Paid card apps add value once a child is 11 or older and spending digitally, but the budgeting math itself is free.
: The five main options in 2026: Cash App (free, a debit card and parental controls, but no chore tracker or lessons), Greenlight ($5.99 to $19.98 a month, the most complete dashboard with chores, savings goals and investing), Acorns Early ($8 a month for up to 4 kids, strong value for larger families), Dinner Table Economy (a paid family subscription built around a money game), and Penny Time plus free calculators (free, best for teaching the math without a card). Cost tracks features: the free apps hand you a card and leave the teaching to you, the paid ones automate chores, savings and investing.
: Per-child pricing varies a lot, so compare the whole-family total, not the headline rate. Acorns Early is the flat-fee value pick at $8 a month for up to 4 kids. Greenlight covers up to 5 kids from $5.99 a month on its Core plan. Cash App is free per child, so three kids still cost nothing. Dinner Table Economy charges a single family subscription. For two or more kids, a flat-fee or free plan almost always beats a per-child charge.

Raise kids who understand how money works

Download Penny Time

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Put this into practice this week

Penny Time turns allowance into a real balance your child tracks on their own device, with your approval on every cash-out. Free for the whole family.