Reviewed by the Penny Time editorial team

Part of our Allowance hub.

Acorns Early vs Greenlight vs Cash App for Kids: Honest 2026 Comparison

Two big shifts changed this category in 2026. Cash App launched a free teen-and-tween product in April. GoHenry rebranded under its parent company Acorns and now ships as Acorns Early with built-in investing. Most comparison articles you will find still treat GoHenry as a separate brand and ignore Cash App entirely. This is a parent-tested look at what actually changed, what each one is good at, and where they fall short.

I opened accounts on all three to write this. My kids are 9 and 13. The 13-year-old already had a Greenlight card from 2024, and I set up the other two side by side in April and May 2026. What follows is what worked, what annoyed me, and which one I would pick for a specific kid.

Monthly cost in 2026: Cash App for Kids $0, Greenlight $5.99 to $19.98, Acorns Early $8 to $12. Penny Time is free for the whole family.

Cash App vs Greenlight vs Acorns Early: which is cheapest?

Skip the monthly fee entirely

Penny Time gives kids automatic allowance and a running balance they can track, free for the whole family.

Cash App for Kids: what is actually new

Cash App for Kids launched April 2026 for ages 13 to 17 with parent approval. It is free, which is the only one of the three that can say that. The card is a Visa debit, parents can set per-transaction and weekly limits, and there are real-time spend alerts. Block (Cash App's parent company) confirmed the product on their Q1 2026 earnings call. Most parents ask about safety before they ask about price, so we handled the controls and the gaps separately in is Cash App safe for kids.

What is missing matters. There is no chore feature, no automated allowance scheduling, no investing for the kid, and no financial education content inside the app. If you want a teen to have a card that works at the gas pump and lets them split a pizza with friends, this is the cheapest, cleanest option in the market right now. If you want a learning tool, it is not that.

Greenlight: still the chore and savings workhorse

Greenlight ($5.99 to $19.98 a month depending on tier) has not changed much since 2024, which is both good and bad. The chore-to-allowance pipeline is still the best of the three. You assign tasks, kids check them off, allowance pays automatically. The Max tier ($10.98) and Infinity tier ($15.98) add investing, identity protection, and family safety features like SOS alerts, and a newer Family Shield tier ($19.98) layers on whole-family credit and identity monitoring.

Three quiet downsides I hit. Card replacements are $3.50 plus shipping. The interest on savings goals is funded by Greenlight, not a bank, which means it is technically a reward, not APY. And the investing inside Greenlight Max is limited to a curated list of large-cap stocks and ETFs with a $1 per trade markup baked in.

For families that want a single app where chores, allowance, and savings goals all link together, Greenlight is still the pick. If you also want a structured way to assign chores at home before opening any account, our chore chart tool gives you a printable starting point.

Acorns Early: GoHenry under new management

GoHenry's acquisition by Acorns closed in 2023, and as of February 2026 the GoHenry brand is being retired. The kid product is now Acorns Early, which costs $8 a month on the standalone Acorns Early Lite plan, or is included free with Acorns Gold at $12 a month. If you already use Acorns Gold for your own retirement or brokerage, the kid account comes included rather than billed separately.

The investing piece is the real upgrade. Acorns Early opens a UTMA custodial brokerage for the child, invests on a schedule, and supports gift contributions from grandparents through a shareable link. The debit card and parent controls are inherited from the old GoHenry stack, so chores, allowance, and savings goals all still work.

The catch: the standalone Lite plan runs $8 a month. If you only want a kid card and nothing else, Acorns Early is more expensive than Cash App for Kids and a bit above Greenlight's base tier. The payoff is the custodial investment account, which neither competitor includes at the base tier.

Acorns Early vs Greenlight: which is better?

Pick Greenlight if you want chores and allowance handled well at the lowest entry price, which is $5.99 a month. Pick Acorns Early if you want the child to end up owning a real investment account, which starts at $8 a month and is included with Acorns Gold at $12. Strip away Cash App and it comes down to two paid apps that both handle chores, allowance, and investing. Greenlight starts cheaper at $5.99 a month and leads with chore-to-allowance automation, adding kid investing at the $10.98 Max tier. Acorns Early starts at $8 a month and leads with investing, opening a real UTMA custodial brokerage for the child at every tier, with the chore and card features inherited from GoHenry carried along.

On fees, Greenlight wins the entry price, while Acorns Early wins the bundle if you already pay $12 for Acorns Gold (that covers both your account and the kid's). On investing, Acorns Early is the stronger tool: the custodial account is a genuine brokerage the child keeps, whereas Greenlight's version is a curated large-cap list with a $1-per-trade markup locked behind the Max tier. On chores and allowance, Greenlight is still the more polished flow, though both cover the basics. Pick Greenlight if the goal is hands-on money habits at the lowest price; pick Acorns Early if long-term investing for the child is the point.

Is Greenlight or Acorns Early better for investing?

Acorns Early, at every tier. It opens a UTMA custodial brokerage for the child, invests on a schedule, and takes gift contributions from grandparents through a shareable link, all of that inside the $8 Lite plan. Greenlight puts investing behind the $10.98 Max tier and limits it to a curated list of large-cap stocks and ETFs with a $1 per trade markup, so the kid is picking from a shortlist rather than holding a custodial account that stays theirs. If investing for the child is the actual reason you are opening an account, Acorns Early is both cheaper for that job and the more real version of it. In both apps the invested balance is SIPC-protected rather than FDIC-insured, which is normal for a brokerage account and worth knowing before you compare it to a savings balance.

Or start free with Penny Time

Penny Time covers what these apps charge for: automatic allowance and a running balance your kids can track, with your sign-off on every cash-out. No card to activate, and free for the whole family.

Set the allowance and growth budget, invite your child, and they play on their own device. No device for them yet? Penny Time still works as your allowance tracker.

No credit card. No ads. No strings.

Which one should you pick for your kid?

• Pick Cash App for Kids if: Your kid is 13 or older, you want zero monthly fees, and you do not care about chore tracking or investing inside the app.
• Pick Greenlight if: Your kid is under 13 or you want the strongest chore-to-allowance automation, and you want one app that does everything without bundling.
• Pick Acorns Early if: You already use Acorns or want a real custodial brokerage for the kid alongside the debit card. The Gold plan at $12 covers both your account and theirs; the standalone Lite plan is $8 for just the kids' side.

These three are not your only options. Our full comparison of the 7 best Greenlight alternatives adds cheaper paid cards like BusyKid and Famzoo, plus the truly free teen cards, to the shortlist.

None of these apps teach kids the underlying math. Before you hand over a card, it helps to run the numbers on what an allowance should actually be and how much should go to saving versus spending. Our allowance calculator sets the baseline, the wants vs needs framework handles the spending split, and the birthday money calculator helps with one-off windfalls that show up before any of these apps will. And since Acorns Early and Greenlight both push kid investing, our guide to teaching kids about investing by age covers compound interest, custodial accounts, and index funds, the concepts those features assume you already understand.

What to watch for in late 2026

Cash App will almost certainly add a chore or savings layer, because the gap is obvious and Block has the engineering muscle. Greenlight is rumored to be cutting prices in response. Acorns Early will keep pushing the investing angle. If you are not in a rush, waiting 60 to 90 days before committing to a multi-year subscription is reasonable.

Give your child their own Penny Time

Penny Time turns allowance into playful Quests your child plays on their own phone or tablet. They make real money decisions and see how each one turns out, while you set it up and stay in charge of every cash-out.

Set the allowance and growth budget, invite your child, and they play on their own device. No device for them yet? Penny Time still works as your allowance tracker.

No credit card. No ads. No strings.

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.