Cash App for Kids vs Greenlight vs GoHenry: 2026 Comparison
On April 21, 2026, Cash App launched parent-managed accounts for kids ages 6 to 17, putting direct pressure on Greenlight and GoHenry. If you already use one of the paid services, the new free option raises a fair question: is the monthly fee still worth it? This guide walks through the actual differences in fees, features, parental controls, and which platform fits which kind of family. We hold no affiliate relationship with any of these companies.
The 60-second answer
Cash App for Kids is free and covers the basics: send money to your child, set up recurring allowance, and let them save toward a goal. Greenlight charges $5.99 to $14.98 per month per family and adds chore tracking, investing, and financial literacy lessons. GoHenry costs $4.99 per child per month and sits in the middle, with strong spending controls and a kid-friendly app. Pick free if you mainly want a way to send allowance. Pick paid if you want chore systems, investing for teens, or detailed merchant blocking built in.
Side-by-side fee comparison
| Feature | Cash App for Kids | Greenlight | GoHenry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | Free | $5.99 - $14.98 per family | $4.99 per child |
| Minimum age | 6 | Any age (debit card from 8+) | 6 |
| Physical debit card | Free, optional | Included | Included |
| Auto allowance | Yes, weekly or biweekly | Yes | Yes |
| Chore tracking | No | Yes | Yes |
| Savings goals | Yes, basic | Yes, with parent-paid interest | Yes |
| Investing (for teens) | Stocks via Cash App Investing at 18+ | Yes, from age 8 with parent approval | No |
| Spending controls | Parent sees every transaction | Category blocking, store blocking | Category blocking, store blocking |
Cash App for Kids: what's new in 2026
Cash App's product, announced April 21, 2026, gives every parent account a sub-account for each child age 6 to 17. The parent controls deposits, sees every purchase, and can pause the card from the main Cash App. The free auto-allowance feature was the headline launch item: schedule a weekly or biweekly transfer, and the money lands in the child's balance automatically. The savings goal feature is simple: the child names a goal, sets a dollar amount, and watches a progress bar. There is no parent-paid interest match, no chore module, and no investing for under-18s yet.
The strongest fit is families who already use Cash App for adult banking. Setup takes about three minutes per child, and the unified app means you do not juggle a second login. If your kid is 6 to 10 and you mainly want to hand over allowance digitally, the free tier covers it.
Greenlight: still the most full-featured
Greenlight's Core plan is $5.99 per month for the whole family, Max is $9.98, and Infinity is $14.98. The fee covers up to five kids, which is why large families tend to stay with Greenlight even with free alternatives available. The chore-and-pay system is the part that holds families: parents assign chores, kids check them off, and the allowance pays out only on completion. Greenlight also offers parent-paid interest (you set the rate) which teaches compounding without using a real bank.
The Max and Infinity tiers add investing in stocks and ETFs from age 8 with parent approval on every trade. According to Greenlight's own published data from 2024, kids using the investing feature average $156 in invested assets by month six. That's the differentiator: no other kids-account product lets an 8-year-old buy fractional shares of Apple.
GoHenry: the spending-controls option
GoHenry charges $4.99 per child per month, which makes it expensive for families with three or more kids but reasonable for one or two. The Missions feature gamifies financial literacy: kids earn points for completing lessons on topics like compound interest and budgeting. Spending controls are granular: you can block specific store categories (gas stations, online gambling, etc.) and set per-transaction limits. The card design is the most kid-friendly of the three, which matters more than it should for younger kids who treat the card as a status object.
Decision matrix by age and family setup
If your child is 6 to 9
Go with Cash App for Kids. At this age, the value is the allowance habit, not investing or complex chore systems. A free product that handles allowance and a basic savings goal is the right fit. You can always upgrade later. Use our allowance calculator to figure out the right weekly amount before you set the auto-transfer.
If your child is 10 to 12 and you want a chore system
Greenlight Core at $5.99 is worth it. The chore-to-allowance link is the part Cash App is missing, and 10 to 12 is the age range where chore-based earning starts teaching real lessons about work and money. Pair it with our free printable chore chart for the kids who need a visual reminder beyond the app.
If your teen wants to invest
Greenlight Max ($9.98) is the only mainstream product that lets a teen actually buy stocks before 18. If your kid has been asking about investing, this is the path. For families with one teen and no younger kids, the $9.98 still beats opening a custodial brokerage account separately.
If you have 3+ kids
Greenlight wins on math alone. $5.99 for the family vs. $4.99 per child (GoHenry) means three kids on Greenlight costs $5.99 and three kids on GoHenry costs $14.97. Cash App is still free, but most large families want the chore system.
What none of these replace
A debit card teaches digital spending, but it does not teach the choice between spending and saving. That part still happens in conversation, and a few simple tools work better than any app. Try our wants vs needs sorter the next time your kid wants to spend birthday money, or our birthday money split calculator to set save/spend/give ratios that match their age. Apps handle the mechanics. The lessons happen at the kitchen table.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Yes. As of the April 2026 launch, Cash App for Kids has no monthly fee, no card fee, and no transfer fees between parent and child accounts. The only fees are the same as the adult Cash App: instant transfers to outside banks cost 0.5% to 1.75%, and ATM withdrawals are $2.50 unless you receive $300+ in direct deposits per month.
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You can, but it takes a manual transfer. Greenlight and GoHenry let you withdraw your child's full balance to your linked bank account, which usually settles in 1 to 3 business days. From there, deposit the money into your Cash App and transfer it to your child's new sub-account. Cancel the old subscription only after the funds clear to avoid losing access mid-transfer.
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All three let you freeze the card from the parent app in under 10 seconds. Greenlight and GoHenry replace cards for free; Cash App charges $5 for a replacement after the first free one. None of them allow purchases without your child's PIN or your transaction approval for larger amounts, so a lost card has limited damage potential.
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No. Debit cards do not build credit history because they do not involve borrowing. For credit-building, a teen needs to be added as an authorized user on a parent's credit card (most issuers allow this at age 13+) or open a secured credit card at 18. Greenlight markets a Family Cash Card for parents that earns rewards toward kids' investing accounts, but that is the parent's credit, not the child's.
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Most financial educators, including the T. Rowe Price Parents, Kids and Money Survey, suggest age 10 to 12 as the sweet spot. Younger kids benefit more from cash because the physical loss of paper money teaches scarcity in a way digital balances do not. If you start earlier with Cash App for Kids at 6 or 7, pair it with cash for the first year so both habits develop together.
Make allowance effortless
Penny Time automates allowance, lets kids track their balance, and puts parents in control of every cash-out. Free for the whole family.
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