Is Cash App for Kids really free?

Yes. Cash App has run sponsored teen accounts (ages 13 to 17) since 2021, and in April 2026 Block added parent-managed accounts for kids 6 to 12, both with no monthly fee, no card fee, and no minimum balance. The 6 to 12 accounts are controlled entirely from the parent's app (kids get no login of their own until 13) and include a recurring allowance plus a savings balance that earns 3.25% APY. Cash App makes money on the parent account, not the kid account. There are no hidden fees on standard debit transactions, though ATM withdrawals outside the Cash App network can incur the standard $2.50 charge.

Acorns Early or Greenlight: which is cheaper?

Greenlight is cheaper to start, at $5.99 a month against $8 for the standalone Acorns Early Lite plan. That flips as soon as investing is part of what you want, because Greenlight only adds it at the $10.98 Max tier, which costs more than Acorns Early Lite. And if you already pay $12 a month for Acorns Gold, the kid account is included at no extra cost.

Is Acorns Early or Greenlight better?

It depends on the goal. Greenlight is the better pick for hands-on chores and allowance at the lowest entry price, $5.99 a month, and it adds kid investing only at the $10.98 Max tier. Acorns Early is the better pick if you want the child to own a real UTMA custodial brokerage, which it includes at every tier starting at $8 a month. Short version: Greenlight for money habits, Acorns Early for long-term investing.

Does Acorns Early or Greenlight have better chore tracking?

Greenlight. The chore-to-allowance pipeline is its strongest feature: you assign tasks, the kid checks them off, and the allowance pays out automatically. Acorns Early inherited the chore, allowance, and savings-goal tools from GoHenry, so all of it still works, but the flow is less polished than Greenlight's.

Which app is best for younger kids under 13?

Greenlight or Acorns Early. Both work for any age with parent setup. Cash App now covers kids from age 6 too, but its 6 to 12 tier is parent-managed spending and allowance only. For kids 6 to 12 who also need chores, Greenlight's chore-to-allowance flow tends to match how families actually run pocket money. For 8 and up, Acorns Early adds investing without much extra setup.

Can I use more than one of these at the same time?

Yes, and some parents do. A common combo is Greenlight for chore and allowance automation plus a separate Acorns custodial account for long-term investing. Running both costs around $10 a month combined. Cash App for Kids can replace Greenlight for a teen who only needs a spending card, freeing up budget for the investing side.

Are any of these FDIC insured?

The cash balances on all three are held at FDIC-insured partner banks. Greenlight uses Community Federal Savings Bank, Acorns Early uses Lincoln Savings Bank, and Cash App for Kids uses Sutton Bank (the same bank behind the adult Cash App card). Investment balances in Greenlight Max and Acorns Early are SIPC-protected, not FDIC-insured, which is standard for brokerage accounts.

By the Penny Time editorial team May 18, 2026

Reviewed by the Penny Time editorial team

Part of our Allowance hub.

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

In short

Acorns Early vs Greenlight vs Cash App for Kids: which should you pick?

Pick by what you need most. Cash App for Kids is the only free option. It now covers kids from age 6 with parent-managed accounts, while teens 13 to 17 use the app on their own phone through a sponsored account, and it does one thing well: spending, plus a recurring allowance and a savings balance on the younger accounts. There is no chore tracker and no kid investing. Greenlight starts at $5.99 a month and has the best chore-to-allowance automation of the three, which is why it suits families with kids 6 to 12 running regular pocket money; it adds kid investing only at the $10.98 Max tier. Acorns Early is $8 a month and is the pick when you want investing built in, because it opens a real UTMA custodial brokerage for the child alongside the chore and card tools it inherited from GoHenry, though that flow is less polished than Greenlight's.

Short version: a free spending card for a teen means Cash App; the best chore automation means Greenlight; investing plus a card means Acorns Early. Some parents pair Greenlight for chores with a separate Acorns account for investing.

Two big shifts changed this category in 2026. Cash App added free parent-managed accounts for kids 6 to 12 in April, on top of the teen accounts it has offered since 2021. 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. If GoHenry and Modak are your real shortlist, our Greenlight vs GoHenry (now Acorns Early) comparison covers that pair head to head. This is a research-based look at what actually changed, what each one is good at, and where they fall short.

For this comparison we checked each provider's current pricing and published feature lists in August 2026 and cross-referenced independent coverage of the 2026 changes. What follows is what each one is good at, and which one fits 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?

Feature	Cash App for Kids	Greenlight	Acorns Early
Monthly cost	$0	$5.99 to $19.98	$8 (Lite) to $12 (Gold)
Minimum age	6 (parent-managed)	Any (parent-controlled)	Any (parent-controlled)
Debit card	Yes, free	Yes, included	Yes, included
Chore tracking	No	Yes	Yes
Allowance automation	Yes, recurring (ages 6-12)	Yes, scheduled	Yes, scheduled
Kid investing	No	Yes (Greenlight Max $10.98)	Yes, included
Parent controls	Spend limits, alerts	Full (per-store blocks, etc.)	Full
Best for	Free spending, ages 6 to 17	Hands-on chore and savings	Long-horizon investing

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 added parent-managed accounts for kids 6 to 12 in April 2026, alongside the sponsored teen accounts (13 to 17) it has run since 2021. Both are free, the only one of the three that can say that. Teens get a Visa debit card and their own app login; the 6 to 12 accounts are run entirely from the parent's app, with a recurring allowance and a savings balance that earns 3.25% APY. 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 investing for the kid, and no financial education content inside the app; the recurring allowance on the 6 to 12 accounts is the extent of the automation. 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 the brand became Acorns Early in late 2024 (announced November 18, 2024). 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?

Factor	Greenlight	Acorns Early
Starting price	$5.99/mo (Core)	$8/mo (Lite), or included with Acorns Gold ($12/mo)
Kid investing	Add-on at the $10.98 Max tier; a curated large-cap list, $1 per trade	Included at every tier; a real UTMA custodial brokerage
Custodial account the child keeps	No	Yes (UTMA)
Chores and allowance	Best-in-class automation	Works (inherited from GoHenry), a little less polished
Best for	Hands-on money habits at the lowest price	Long-term investing for the child

Pick Greenlight if you want chores and allowance handled well at the lowest entry price, which is $5.99 a month (see how much Greenlight costs across all four plans). 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.

Raise kids who understand how money works

Download the app, add your child, and connect their phone or tablet by scanning a code. About a minute, no email needed for kids.

No ads. No data selling. No credit card.

Which one should you pick for your kid?

Pick Cash App for Kids if: You want zero monthly fees and a simple spending card (teens 13 to 17 use the app on their own phone; kids 6 to 12 stay parent-managed), and you do not care about chore tracking or investing inside the app.
Pick Greenlight if: You want the strongest chore-to-allowance automation and 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 free debit cards for teens, to the shortlist.

For the full field ranked side by side, our guide to the best kids allowance apps covers pricing and age limits across every major option.

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 layer, because the gap is obvious and Block has the engineering muscle (a savings balance already ships on the 6 to 12 accounts). 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.

Frequently Asked Questions

: Yes. Cash App has run sponsored teen accounts (ages 13 to 17) since 2021, and in April 2026 Block added parent-managed accounts for kids 6 to 12, both with no monthly fee, no card fee, and no minimum balance. The 6 to 12 accounts are controlled entirely from the parent's app (kids get no login of their own until 13) and include a recurring allowance plus a savings balance that earns 3.25% APY. Cash App makes money on the parent account, not the kid account. There are no hidden fees on standard debit transactions, though ATM withdrawals outside the Cash App network can incur the standard $2.50 charge.
: GoHenry was acquired by Acorns in April 2023 and became Acorns Early in late 2024 (announced November 18, 2024). Existing GoHenry accounts have moved to Acorns Early, which costs $8 a month on the standalone Acorns Early Lite plan, or is free with an Acorns Gold subscription at $12 a month. The card, chore features, and parent controls carry over, and a UTMA custodial investment account is added on top.
: Greenlight is cheaper to start, at $5.99 a month against $8 for the standalone Acorns Early Lite plan. That flips as soon as investing is part of what you want, because Greenlight only adds it at the $10.98 Max tier, which costs more than Acorns Early Lite. And if you already pay $12 a month for Acorns Gold, the kid account is included at no extra cost.
: It depends on the goal. Greenlight is the better pick for hands-on chores and allowance at the lowest entry price, $5.99 a month, and it adds kid investing only at the $10.98 Max tier. Acorns Early is the better pick if you want the child to own a real UTMA custodial brokerage, which it includes at every tier starting at $8 a month. Short version: Greenlight for money habits, Acorns Early for long-term investing.
: Greenlight. The chore-to-allowance pipeline is its strongest feature: you assign tasks, the kid checks them off, and the allowance pays out automatically. Acorns Early inherited the chore, allowance, and savings-goal tools from GoHenry, so all of it still works, but the flow is less polished than Greenlight's.
: Greenlight or Acorns Early. Both work for any age with parent setup. Cash App now covers kids from age 6 too, but its 6 to 12 tier is parent-managed spending and allowance only. For kids 6 to 12 who also need chores, Greenlight's chore-to-allowance flow tends to match how families actually run pocket money. For 8 and up, Acorns Early adds investing without much extra setup.
: Yes, and some parents do. A common combo is Greenlight for chore and allowance automation plus a separate Acorns custodial account for long-term investing. Running both costs around $10 a month combined. Cash App for Kids can replace Greenlight for a teen who only needs a spending card, freeing up budget for the investing side.
: The cash balances on all three are held at FDIC-insured partner banks. Greenlight uses Community Federal Savings Bank, Acorns Early uses Lincoln Savings Bank, and Cash App for Kids uses Sutton Bank (the same bank behind the adult Cash App card). Investment balances in Greenlight Max and Acorns Early are SIPC-protected, not FDIC-insured, which is standard for brokerage accounts.

Raise kids who understand how money works

Download the app, add your child, and connect their phone or tablet by scanning a code. About a minute, no email needed for kids.

No ads. No data selling. No credit card.

Put this into practice this week

Add your child in Penny Time and, on their own phone or tablet, they can watch a real balance grow, take on quests, and ask for cash-outs you approve. Free for the whole family.