Reviewed by the Penny Time editorial team

Is GoHenry Going Away? The Acorns Early Rebrand and Cheaper Alternatives

GoHenry is not shutting down, but the brand you signed up for is being retired. Acorns acquired GoHenry in April 2023, and through 2025 and into 2026 the company has been folding the GoHenry product into a new offering called Acorns Early. If you logged in and saw new branding, a migration notice, or a price you did not expect, that is the rebrand at work. The card still functions, your child's account still exists, but the name, the app, and in many cases the monthly cost have changed.

What actually happened with GoHenry

Acorns, the round-up investing app, bought GoHenry to move into the family and kids money space. Rather than run two brands, Acorns has been merging GoHenry's debit card and chore features into Acorns Early, which bundles the kids card with Acorns' investing and savings products. For existing GoHenry families this means the standalone GoHenry plan is being phased out and replaced by an Acorns subscription tier.

The sticking point for most parents is price. GoHenry historically ran about $4.99 per month for one child or roughly $9.98 for a family plan covering up to four kids. Acorns Early sits inside Acorns' subscription pricing, which runs from around $8 up to $12 per month depending on the tier. If you only wanted a simple debit card and a chore tracker, you are now paying for an investing platform you may not use. That is the jump driving people to look for something else.

Cheaper GoHenry alternatives, ranked by price

Here is an honest, price-first comparison. Monthly costs are current as of early 2026 and are per-family unless noted. Always confirm on the provider's own site before signing up, since card fees change often.

A few notes on the standouts. BusyKid charges roughly $4 per month billed as about $48 a year, and it covers up to five kids on one family account, so per-child it is often the cheapest paid option with real chore tooling. Modak and Cash App can be genuinely free, which matters if the card is the only thing you needed. Cash App's teen accounts require a sponsoring adult on the account and are aimed at kids 13 and up, so they suit older teens more than an 8-year-old learning to save.

What to check before you switch

• ATM and load fees. A $0 monthly card can still charge for ATM withdrawals or instant transfers. Read the fee schedule.
• Age minimums. Some cards start at age 6, others (like Cash App) at 13. Match the tool to your child's age.
• Chore features. If chores were the point, BusyKid and Modak give you assignable tasks and automatic payouts. A bare debit card does not.
• What happens to the old balance. Before you cancel Acorns Early or GoHenry, move any remaining balance out. Do not close the account with money still on the card.

You may not need a paid card at all

Here is the part the comparison sites skip. The core lesson a kids debit card teaches, splitting money into save, spend, and give, works just as well with a jar system, a notebook, or a free planner. A card adds convenience and a payment rail, not the lesson itself. Plenty of families run a strong allowance system with zero monthly fees.

If you want to start there, our free allowance calculator gives you an age-based weekly amount so you are not guessing what to pay. Pair it with a budget planner to set the save, spend, and give split, and use the wants vs needs exercise to teach the judgment call behind every purchase. If chores are what you cared about, a printable chore chart does the tracking a $12 app was doing, for free.

How to decide in five minutes

1. If you only ever used the debit card, move to a free option like Modak, or Cash App if your kid is 13 or older.
2. If chores were the main draw, BusyKid at about $4 flat is the cheapest paid pick that keeps them.
3. If you liked the full GoHenry feature set and do not want investing, Greenlight Core near $6 is close to a straight swap.
4. If you actually want the investing side, staying on Acorns Early may be worth the $8-12.
5. If you are open to dropping the card entirely, run the numbers with a free allowance calculator and a chore chart and keep the whole monthly fee.

The rebrand is real and the price increase is real, but you have options at every budget, including free. Decide based on what you actually used, not on the plan you happened to be grandfathered into, and you can come out of this paying less than you did before.

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.

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