10 Best Allowance and Chore Apps for Kids [Easy Family Life]

Getting kids to do their chores is often harder than doing the work yourself. Fortunately, there are allowance and family chore apps for kids to help you out.

You can use these apps to assign household tasks, organize virtual chore charts, create a chore checklist for each child (and adult!), and even schedule family events. But which chore and allowance apps are best?

This article sorts through the best allowance and chore apps for kids on the market. We’ll talk about what they can accomplish and how you can use them to manage household chores and allowance payments. I’ll also go over how to track (and approve) kids’ investments and debit card purchases.

Once you know what goes into an allowance plan and which chore and allowance app would work best for your family, you can finally relax as your children do chores and the app handles the rest.

Let’s dive in.

Best Allowance and Chore Apps for Kids—Top Picks

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Best Chore Apps for Kids (and Allowance)

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1. Greenlight (Best Paid Allowance and Chore App With Debit Card)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Price: Starts at $5.99/mo.

The Greenlight debit card allows kids to begin spending, but provides parents with peace of mind by giving them control over where their kids can spend money. Parents also can choose to receive alerts that tell them when, and how much, money is spent on the Greenlight debit card.

The app is designed to handle both chores and allowances. For chores, you can edit the weekly chores and establish a schedule through use of checkboxes beneath each day of the week in the Weekly Chores menu. For allowances, you can set a payment directly through the app, providing a payment frequency weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. Once established, you can choose where you want the funds to go, under the Spend Anywhere, General Savings, or Giving options, or splitting the amount as you see fit.

When the funds transfer, you’ll receive a notification on your parent account and you can set up these transfers to happen automatically or on your command. Likewise, you can also select “Save Allowance and Add Weekly Chores,” which attaches a chores stipulation to the payment. As you add weekly chores to the app, your kids can check them off in their own app.

The day before your child’s money is scheduled to be paid, the Greenlight app will send you a notification prompting you to check if your children have completed their weekly chores. If your child has not completed their chores, you then have the choice to pause their payment until complete. From there, you can revisit the chores list to see what remains to be done. This should make everyone content with the arrangement and provide every family member a chance to earn access to a fair payment for their chores.

A feature like this allows household chores to get done before parents need to make payment, making Greenlight one of the best chore apps for families to manage a chore pad full of household responsibilities.

Other items worth noting on Greenlight: It works like a prepaid debit card, allowing you to transfer money onto the card for your child to pay for expenses at approved locations. You can choose how much money to load onto the card, and your child will be cleared to make approved purchases so long as a money balance backs up the card.

If your child asks for extra money to get added to the card, you can have them take a photo of the purchase they want to make and receive your approval. This gives you control and allows you to have discussions with your child about why a purchase might be a good or bad idea.

And if your child has a job, they can add their own funds to the card as well.

Each monthly Greenlight subscription includes debit cards for up to five kids. Replacement cards cost $3.50 each but are free the first time. If you need to replace your card quickly, you can get express delivery for $24.99. 

The Greenlight debit card is a good choice for parents looking to teach their kids the importance of saving money and making prudent financial decisions. This financial product can be an effective learning tool for helping kids to understand why saving should be a priority and how to simplify paying an allowance or tracking chores.

Greenlight has no minimum age requirements but recommends starting at age 6 or older.

Read more in our Greenlight Card review or sign up today.

Related: 8 Best Greenlight Alternatives [Cards for Kids & Teens]

2. Cash App Families (Managed Accounts for Kids)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Price: Free* (no subscription fees)

Are your kids too young for Cash App Families’ teen card? No worries—parents can now help their children build good money habits through Cash App Families Managed Accounts.

Cash App managed accounts, designed for kids ages 6 to 12**, are a fully parent-managed money experience that’s designed to make learning about money fun, simple, and safe. There are no subscription fees, no minimum balance requirements, and no hidden charges.

The app enables parents to teach their kids responsibility and consistency by setting up automatic recurring allowances, while kids can track their allowance, savings, and spending in one easy view. Kids don’t just store money with Cash App, either—they can watch it grow thanks to high yields on savings balances.¹ And when they’re ready, they can design their very own customizable Cash App Visa^® Card, making their first financial tool feel truly their own with the assistance of their parents/guardians.

Parents, meanwhile, will enjoy the peace of mind that comes from a truly robust set of safety features and controls. All account access lives within your own Cash App, inside the Family Applet—your child never logs in independently. You set the rules, and you can change them anytime.

Your child’s profile is private by default—discoverable only by exact $cashtag or QR code, with no photo or avatar visible in search results. But you can add up to five trusted friends or family members to your child’s approved contact list, so only the people you choose can send them money. You can also set spending limits on their debit card, block specific merchants, and instantly lock or unlock their card with a single tap.

And Cash App’s industry-leading safety features extend fully to managed accounts. Advanced fraud and scam monitoring runs 24/7, automatically flagging or blocking unsafe spending categories and notifying you of any suspicious activity.

Parents/guardians must download Cash App (also free) to create the managed account. Use our link to learn more about or sign up with Cash App today.

Related: How to Open a Bank Account for a Minor: Steps, What You Need

3. Chase First Banking (Best Kids’ Debit Card From a Major Bank)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Price: Free (no monthly fees)

Ready to teach your little ones about earning, saving, and spending money, but not quite sure if you have the time, patience, and/or expertise? Chase First Banking^SM offers simple banking for both of you in one location—the Chase Mobile^® App—for free. 

Chase First Banking^SM helps parents teach teens and kids about money by giving parents the control they want and kids the freedom they need to learn. Among the account’s many features?

• One of the best free debit cards for kids and teens—it works anywhere Visa is accepted, and can be used to withdraw money fee-free* from more than 14,000 Chase ATMs nationwide
• Savings goals that you can track via the Chase Mobile^® App
• Parental controls, such as setting limits on where and how much they can spend and withdraw from ATMs
• Account alerts that let you know where your child is spending
• Recurring chores and allowance

The account is designed with kids 6-12 in mind, and available for ages 6-17. To get started, you’ll first need to be a Chase customer with a qualifying Chase checking account. If you don’t already have one, consider opening a Chase Total Checking^® or Chase Secure Banking^SM account to qualify.

• Chase Total Checking^® also grants access to thousands of branches and ATMs. You can pay $0 in monthly fees, subject to meeting certain conditions.** And you can collect a $400 new-customer bonus when you make total direct deposits of $1,000 or more within 90 days of coupon enrollment. 
• Chase Secure Banking^SM offers the same Chase ATMs and branch locations as well as a $125 sign-up bonus when you make stated qualifying activities and meet certain conditions.

Once you open a qualifying Chase Checking account, you may use our link to apply for a Chase First Banking^SM account for your child. 

Related: 9 Best Debit Cards for Teens [Reviewed by a CPA + Father]

4. Acorns Early (Best for Customer Service)

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• Available: Acorns Early Lite | Acorns Gold
• Price: Acorns Early Lite: Free 30-day trial, then $8/mo. Acorns Early: $12/mo.

Many reviewers have long painted Acorns Early (formerly GoHenry) as just a way to spend. However, I see it as a real financial solution for minors—a debit card, yes, but also an app-based ecosphere that provides education and experience for the child, as well as ways for parents to keep their kids safe and teach them responsibility.

An Acorns Early account includes a smart money app, as well as Visa debit cards for up to four children. These debit cards can be used to spend anywhere Visa is accepted (so, millions of vendors online and in stores), as well as withdraw cash from ATMs. The standard Acorns Early debit card itself is included in the monthly subscription; however, your child can also stylize their card with one of 35 different designs for a one-time fee. The account also allows kids to set savings goals, which they can fund manually or via autosave.

Acorns Early’s app hosts educational materials to help children and teens alike develop good money habits. One of the more impressive aspects of the program is that it’s explicitly segmented into different age groups, starting with money basics for kids in single-digit ages, then becoming more advanced over time, so the lessons really appear to grow as your children do.

This FDIC-insured account also enjoys a variety of safety features, including chip and PIN protection, secure PIN recovery, and fraud protection. Acorns Early also offers parents additional peace of mind by providing a number of controls, including:

• Real-time spending notifications
• Card lock/unlock
• Savings goal lock/unlock
• Adjustable spending limits on a per-transaction and per-week basis
• Card category block/unblock for in-store purchases, online purchases, and ATM withdrawals
• Adjustable spending block/unblock at stores that sell age-restricted goods such as firearms and alcohol

Also, kids can only spend whatever money is available on the card because it’s a prepaid debit card. That means parents don’t have to worry about costly overdraft fees or their kids running up a debt.

Acorns Early offers a number of ways to fund the account. Parents, of course, can send money in a pinch whenever they want with instant transfers. They can also set up a regular allowance, or tie payment to chores. (And parents get to approve chores before they pay out—no half-done dishes allowed.) Teens can also receive ACH deposits from their employers. And loved ones can either get “Relative accounts” that allow them to send money to your kids, or they can send money via Acorns Early “Giftlinks,” which act similarly to an e-gift card.

Acorns Early also stands out to us as one of the best prepaid debit cards for kids because of its outstanding customer service, which it inherited from GoHenry. Acorns Early users enjoy seven-day-a-week phone service (9 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Saturday-Sunday), as well as 24/7 live chat support.

Acorns Early has no minimum age requirements but recommends starting at age 6 or older. Parents have two ways of signing up for Acorns Early: 

1. Sign up for Acorns Early Lite. This subscription level provides you with everything mentioned above for up to four children.
2. Sign up for Acorns Gold. Acorns Gold is the top Acorns subscription tier for adults, and it provides a wealth of banking, investing, and other features. However, it also includes a subscription to Acorns Early (again, good for up to four children), and it unlocks Acorns Early Invest: a UGMA/UTMA custodial account you can use to invest for your kids’ future.

Acorns frequently offers small bonuses for anyone who signs up with our links. You can check out current offers in the box below, or read more about this app in our Acorns Early review.

Related: Best Acorns Early (Formerly GoHenry) Alternatives

5. Revolut <18 (Best for Parent-Paid Bonuses)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Price: No monthly fees
• Devices: Android, Apple iOS/iPhone/iPad
• Recommended Age: Ages 13-17

Revolut <18 is a prepaid debit card for kids designed to teach them money skills for life. Aimed at building healthy money habits from an early age, the unique, customizable card¹ empowers parents to have full insight into their kids’ card activity through providing instant spending alerts and parental controls.

You can choose to freeze the card, as well as set controls on how they use the cards online and with contactless payments through your Revolut app. You can also set spending limits on how much your child can use with the prepaid card.

Parents use the card and accompanying app to teach kids about earning, budgeting, saving and even investing money (depending on the plan chosen). You can also use the card to manage chores and allowance, set savings goals as a family, and help your children manage their money.

And if your child did something deserving of a reward? You can send parent-paid bonuses when they complete specific tasks. Simply add money to their digitized piggy bank through the app. You can send and receive money in seconds through Revolut’s payments feature, which allows fast  transfers between account holders and also global transfers at transparent rates.

You must have a personal Revolut account before you can open a Revolut <18 account for your children. You can add up to five Revolut <18 accounts per parent account.

To learn more about Revolut <18, visit their site and open an account for yourself and your child.

Related: 10 Best Money Apps for Teens Under 18 [Invest, Pay + More]

6. Capital One MONEY (Best Free Teen Checking Account)

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• Available: Read our review and sign up
• Price: Free (no monthly fees)
• Devices: Android, Apple iOS/iPhone/iPad
• Recommended ages: 8-17

Capital One MONEY Teen Checking is one of Young and the Invested’s top choices for parents who want to financially empower their kids at an early age. Yes, this free checking account is predominantly aimed at teenagers, but it’s actually available to kids as young as 8 years old.

This joint checking account offers flexibility for kids and a touch of tranquility for parents. Kids get a Mastercard debit card that they can use at millions of merchants across the U.S., as well as in roughly 210 countries and territories worldwide. Your teen also enjoys access to one of the largest fee-free ATM networks among kids debit cards—more than 70,000+ Capital One, MoneyPass, and AllPoint machines. They can also send and receive money via Zelle, receive direct deposits from employers, and even cash paper checks by snapping a couple photos within the highly rated Capital One app.

Parents, meanwhile, can also pay their kids a regular allowance, or make one-time payments as gifts or rewards. They also can monitor their teens’ transactions, lock and unlock their child’s card, and control their kid’s access to (and transfer limits within) Zelle.

To learn more about the account, read our Capital One MONEY Teen Checking review. Or you can sign up today by clicking “Get Started” above.

Related: 8 Best Round-Up Apps for Saving + Investing Money Instantly

7. BusyKid (Prepaid Visa Debit Card for Kids)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Price: $4/mo. billed annually. (Up to 5 cards)

If you’re looking for prepaid debit cards for kids that also teach your children about money, lets you pay them allowance, and allows them to spend, consider the award-winning BusyKid app and the connected BusyKid Visa Spend Card.

BusyKid started as an easy-to-use, interactive chore app for kids, but has since added a prepaid debit card that allows your children to spend their money in stores and online. Your children can earn real money by completing chores and other tasks around the house, then use the app to learn valuable financial skills, such as budgeting, saving, and even giving back.

Parents can pay allowance on an ad hoc basis, or they can set up Auto-Allowance. When parents add to their children’s accounts, that money can be split between Save, Share, and Spend:

• Save: Parents can automatically allocate money toward a savings basket; however, parents can also match any money their children elect to save.
• Donate: Children can choose which charities they would like to give money to, and parents must approve before the cash is transferred.
• Spend: When they’re ready for independence, BusyKid has a Visa Spend Card so kids are never without cash in hand.

Also, with BusyKid, the parent isn’t the only person who can add money to child accounts. With a share of the QR code, grandparents, aunts, uncles, other family members, and even friends can add money—from birthday presents to paying for chores–for a $1 fee (plus any credit card or bank transaction costs).

Finally, BusyKid also allows children to invest their earnings through the app. Doing so requires setting up a separate Apex Clearing account. Children can choose to invest in hundreds of stocks and ETFs with as little as $10.

In addition to the $4 monthly subscription, BusyKid charges other fees, including 50¢ per declined transaction, $5 for a card reissue, and a $5 monthly fee for paper statements.

Related: 10 Best Prepaid Debit Cards for Teens & Kids [Reloadable]

8. FamZoo (Best for Financial Education)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Price: Monthly: 1-month free trial, then $5.99/mo. Annually: 2-month free trial, then $59.90/yr. (16% discount)

FamZoo is another service for parents interested in opening a prepaid debit card to manage their children’s spending.

FamZoo rates as our top education choice because of both its robust financial education library, and functions that have financial literacy in mind. For instance, its chore features include payment checklists that teach kids the value of a dollar by tying chores and odd jobs to rewards and even penalties. You can also teach younger children the basics of money through the automated allowance feature, which lets you set a fixed amount or even automatically raise it as they age.

Spending, Saving, and Giving accounts separate funds into different purposes. With “Parent-Paid Interest,” you can teach your kids the power of compound interest over time. Other features include direct deposit, savings goal tracking, and FDIC insurance.

Parents can fund a FamZoo account through numerous routes, including bank transfers, Direct Deposit, even cash. Typically, parents will load their primary funding card, then they will transfer those funds onto their kids’ cards. But you do have the option of directly funding kids’ cards.

There are plenty of safety features, too. And there’s no risk of having your bank account information stolen from FamZoo—because FamZoo never asks for it. Adults can monitor transactions, you can temporarily lock and unlock cards, and you can set up real-time alerts for card activity and remaining balances.

Related: The 12 Best Budgeting Apps We’ve Reviewed

9. Till Financial (Best for Fostering Money Conversations)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Price: Till Free: No monthly fees. Till Premium: $7.99/mo.

Till Financial describes itself as a “family banking app and debit card for kids and teens” that empowers children to become smarter spenders. The app does this by encouraging “open and honest” discussions between parents and kids.

Kids and parents alike can choose from preset savings goals or create their own, then track their progress. Parents can further encourage their kids with Goal Boosts, which include adding fixed amounts, giving monthly percentage bonuses, or matching their kids’ deposits.

Other Till features include automated allowance, Tasks (chore) functionality, “Give Links” that let friends and family give money directly to a child’s Till debit card and direct deposit.

Till’s Free tier provides families with the basic FDIC-insured account, a free digital debit card (physical debit cards are $5 apiece), and everything mentioned above. However, the Till Premium paid tier includes a number of additional features, including:

• Advanced spending controls, such as category caps and store-specific blocking
• Up to 1% cash back on all purchases
• 2% Save rewards on savings balances
• Two-day early direct deposit
• Free, instant debit deposits
• Free physical debit cards
• No foreign transaction fees
• Priority support

Sign up for Till Financial today.

Related: Helpful Teenage Money Management + Financial Planning

10. Homey

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• Available: Sign up here
• Price: Basic Homey: Free; Homey Unlimited: $4.99 per month or $49.99 annually
• Devices: Android, Apple iOS/iPhone/iPad
• Recommended Age: 6-18

Homey is another app to consider on this list of chore apps for kids. The service allows parents to sync a bank account to the app for transferring money. The app uses household chores to help your children understand the difference between responsibilities and work.

Basic Homey allows up to three family members to use the kids chore app. Though, if you want to use this chore app for more than just three family members, you will need to pay up for Homey Unlimited. The subscription costs $4.99 per month or $49.99 annually (two months free).

The free version, Basic Homey, still provides access to features like chores, allowance and rewards management.

You can also set daily, weekly or monthly chores for each and every family member on the family calendar, manage allowances and other money, transfer funds between accounts, set up “jars” to work toward kid and teenage savings goals as well as add or deduct funds from wallets.

However, to unlock all of the app’s features (and unlimited slots), you’ll need to upgrade to Homey Unlimited. In addition to more app users, Homey Unlimited allows multiple savings jars per child for various goals as well as to connect your bank account for transferring money into your child’s savings account.

Related: Best Investing Apps for Teens Under 18 [Stock Apps for Teens]

Allowance + Chore Apps for Kids: FAQs

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Should you use an app to track household chores and pay an allowance?

Some parents don’t believe in having a child’s chores and allowance connected. Whether or not you want to tie chores to an allowance is a personal parenting choice and completely up to you. However, for those who do, using an app can greatly simplify the process.

As children complete a chore checklist, you can have them automatically paid or approve payment first. Either way, you don’t have to dig in your wallet and give your kid an IOU when you don’t have the exact amount to pay them. Your children will always get the right amount on the promised date and it’s easy for everyone to track progress.

What should you look for in chore apps?

When choosing a chore app, consider the recommended age for use. Some apps are great for all ages. Others specifically target younger children or teenagers.

You’ll also want to see how payment works for various chore apps. Does the chore app require you to pay for chores, give rewards for chores, or just keep track of chores without payment? Logistically, you need to know how to load money into the app. Often, this is done with a debit card or bank transfers.

Those are the basics. It’s also important to look at what special features each app offers because the best chore apps do much more than just pay an allowance for chores. Do you want an account with a debit card so your child can learn how to manage money? How about the ability for your kids to create savings goals? Some apps can greatly improve a child’s financial literacy.

Are paper chore charts just as effective as a chores app?

Do you have one of those family members who has endless gel pens and stickers? Some people love filling out bullet journals, writing in physical calendars, and creating fancy to-do lists. If this describes someone in your household, that person might enjoy creating a traditional chore chart and making checks or placing stickers as kids complete tasks.

Other people love digital everything. They love calendars that sync to all of their devices, phone reminders, and have all bills on autopay to save time and brain power.

If this better describes you or your partner, chore-tracking apps are much more effective. These apps work great for parents who want to put allowance and chores on autopilot. You just need to pick the best chore app for your family.

Disclosures

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Cash App Families

Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App’s bank partner(s). Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. Cash App Visa® Debit Flex Cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC, and The Bancorp Bank, N.A., pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. See terms and conditions for the Sutton prepaid card, Sutton debit flex card, and Bancorp debit flex card.  Savings provided by Cash App, a Block, Inc. brand. 

* Card use fees apply. Free Cash App Cards come in black, white, pink, or glow-in-the-dark. 

** Parents and legal guardians can open a managed account for kids 6-12. To view the eligibility requirements for sponsoring a teen or child, please visit the Sponsored Accounts section of the Cash App Terms of Service.

*** With a Cash App Card, your money is eligible for FDIC pass-through insurance through Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Sutton Bank, and/or The Bancorp Bank, N.A., Members FDIC, for up to $250,000 per customer when aggregated with all other deposits held in the same legal capacity at each bank, if certain conditions are met. See the Cash App Terms of Service.

Cash App is a financial services platform, and not an FDIC-insured bank. Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. Cash App Visa® Debit Flex Cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC, and The Bancorp Bank, N.A., pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. 

¹ Cash App will pass through a portion of the interest paid on your savings balance held in an account for the benefit of Cash App customers at Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Member FDIC. To earn interest on your Cash App savings balance, you need to have sponsor approval. Exceptions may apply. Savings yield rate is subject to change. 

Revolut <18

¹ Customized cards may require fees.

Chase Total Checking

* Chase Total Checking charges a $12 monthly service fee. However, that fee may be waived with one of the following, each monthly statement period: 1.) Electronic deposits made into this account totaling $500 or more, such as payments from payroll providers or government benefit providers, by using (i) the ACH network, (ii) the Real Time Payment or FedNow℠ network, (iii) third-party services that facilitate payments to your debit card using the Visa® or Mastercard® network, OR a balance at the beginning of each day of $1,500 or more in this account, OR an average beginning day balance of $5,000 or more in any combination of this account and linked qualifying Chase checking, savings, and other balances.