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
|
Best Premium Debit Card for Kids & Teens
|
Debit Card for Kids + Teens
|
Debit Card for Kids Without Monthly Fees
|
|
|
|
|
|
Starts at $4.99/month (for up to five kids)
|
Variable pricing on Copper and Copper + Invest plans
|
No monthly fees.
|
Best Chore Apps for Kids (and Allowance)
| App | Best For | Fees | Promotions |
|---|---|---|---|
 Greenlight | ☆ 4.8 / 5 Customer rating and parental controls | $4.99/month for up to five kids | First month free |
 Copper Banking | ☆ 4.8 / 5 Customizable allowance payment frequency without fees | Free, no fees | None |
 Revolut <18 | ☆ 4.7 / 5 Parent-paid bonuses | No monthly fees | None |
 GoHenry | ☆ 4.7 / 5 Accessible customer service support | Individual: $4.99/child/mo. Family: $9.98/mo. for up to four children | Free month trial |
 Step Banking | ☆ 4.7 / 5 Building credit history | Free (no monthly fees) | None |
 Homey | ☆ 4.0 / 5 Can upload images for chores and send them to individual family members as an assignment | $4.99/month or $49.99/year | 2 months free with annual subscription |
 OurHome | ☆ 4.3 / 5 Points system rewards instead of cash as an option | Free | None |
 Chase First Banking | ☆ 4.8 / 5 High customer satisfaction from a major bank without fees | Free | None |
| *Apple App Store Rating as of August 31, 2023. | |||
1. Greenlight (Best Paid Allowance and Chore App With Debit Card)
- Available: Sign up here
- Devices: Android, Apple iOS/iPhone/iPad
- Price: Free 1-month trial, $4.99/month after
- Recommended Age: All ages, especially 8+
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.
As for chores and allowances, the app is designed to handle both. 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 company also offers a personalized card, with your own photo or design, for $9.98 per year.
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.
- Greenlight offers flexible parental controls for each child and real-time notifications of each transaction.
- Greenlight is the only debit card letting you choose the exact stores where kids can spend on the card.
- Parents can use this app to teach them how to invest with a brokerage account through Greenlight Max and Greenlight Infinity plans.
- Unlike many apps that simply provide features and controls, Greenlight is also designed to spark discussions with children about spending, investing, and more, fostering more education.
- Best-in-class parental controls (can prohibit specific stores)
- Can add brokerage account to invest in stocks
- Intuitive Parent + Kid apps
- Competitive cash back & interest rates
- Parent-Paid Interest
- High price points
- No cash reload options
- No parent / child lending
Related: Best Bar Mitzvah Gift Ideas [Financial Gift Ideas That Last]
2. Copper Card (Best Allowance App With a Debit Card)
- Available: Sign up here
- Devices: Android, Apple iOS/iPhone/iPad
- Price: Variable pricing on Copper and Copper + Invest plans
- Recommended Ages: 6 – 17
Copper Banking was founded on the belief that kids and teens should have equal access to financial education and should be empowered to learn by doing. Now, the company is on a mission to help children gain real-world experience by giving them access to their money in a way that traditional banks can’t.
The app makes your life a bit easier with customizable allowances payable on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. You can choose to pay them for chores they’ve done or just as a regular payment.
The Copper app and debit card teaches your child how to make smart financial decisions by creating a platform where parents and their kids can connect. With the Copper app, you get easy snapshots of your accounts. And with the Copper Debit Card, it’s easy to shop in-store or online, including with Apple Pay or Google Pay.
Plus, users get exclusive access to engaging advice curated by a team of financial literacy experts who provide tips on how to take control of their financial future.
Copper Banking Features:
- Send/Request: Kids and parents can easily send and receive money all at the touch of a button.
- Spend: Spend using Apple or Google Pay, or using the Copper Debit Card.
- Withdraw: Access your money from more than 55,000 fee-free ATMs.
- Monitor: Get a snapshot of all your child’s spending in an easy-to-read dashboard.
- Save: Gain quick snapshots of your kid’s savings and helpful tips on how to save even more. Set up savings buckets and save for the things that you want.
- Learn: With the help of Copper’s team of financial literacy experts, gain bite-sized tips on how you can maximize your money and prepare yourself for your financial future.
The basic Copper account includes the above banking features. With Copper + Invest, your child also gets access to automatically curated smart portfolios built with their preferences in mind. Your child is given a questionnaire that helps Copper determine a portfolio based on their age, income, net worth, investment objective(s) and investment horizon. Copper then recommends one of three ETF portfolios—Moderately Aggressive, Aggressive, and Extra Aggressive—made up of thousands of stocks. Parents can review the portfolio to ensure it matches with not just your child’s preferences, but your family’s. (Portfolios can be changed later on by accessing the Support chat.)
Your child can begin investing for as little as $1, then add more contributions down the road. Copper will automatically rebalance the portfolio as needed to make sure it always keeps up with your child’s investment preferences.
Copper is available to kids 6 years and older.
Read more in our Copper Banking review.
- Copper is the digital bank and debit card for teens built with the mission of creating a financially successful generation.
- Send/Request: Teens and parents can easily send and receive money all at the touch of a button.
- Spend: Pay with a digital wallet via Apple Pay or Google Pay or use the physical Copper Debit Card.
- Monitor: Get a snapshot of all your spending in an easy-to-read dashboard.
- Save: Gain quick snapshots of your savings and helpful tips on how you can save even more. Set up savings bucks and save for the things that you want.
- Learn: With the help of Copper's team of financial literacy experts, learn more about how to maximize your money and prepare yourself for your financial future.
- Allowance administration
- Financial education resources
- Network of 55,000-plus fee-free ATMs
- No chores tracking or assignment
- No parental controls beyond notifications
Related: Best Greenlight Alternatives
3. Revolut <18 (Best for Parent-Paid Bonuses)
- 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 card 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, set controls on how they use the cards online and with contactless payments through your Revolut app. Further, you can 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 instant transfers between account holders and also global transfers at transparent rates.
Of note: 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, consider visiting their site and opening an account for yourself and your child.
- Revolut <18 is a prepaid debit card for kids.
- Designed to assist parents teach kids ages 13-17 about money, families can handle chores and allowance, create budgets, set parental controls and more.
- Revolut <18 comes with unique, customizable cards parents can use to set up tasks and goals to work on together as a family.
- Prepaid debit card for teens
- Parental controls
- Chore and allowance management
- Customizable designs
- Premium features require paid account
- Children can't load funds, only parents can
- Parents need to have a personal Revolut account
Related: Best GoHenry Alternatives
4. GoHenry (Best Educational Chore App for Teenagers)
- Available: Sign up here
- Devices: Android, Apple iOS/iPhone/iPad
- Price: 1 month free. Individual: $4.99/child/mo. Family: $9.98/mo. for up to 4 children
- Recommended Age: 6-18
GoHenry is another allowance management app which provides kids with a banking app linked to a debit card. You have an online account which comes linked to individual accounts for each of your children.
You can manage all of the money held in each account through the company’s app and online account portal.
Each child will receive their own GoHenry debit card; you can choose from 45 different designs or create your own customized card for $4.99. Each card is governed by parental controls you can set for your children.
What’s nice about GoHenry is that kids can only spend whatever money is available on the card—and thus parents don’t need to worry about costly overdraft fees or their kids accruing debt.
The app has useful features for parents to assign chores, administer payment and even track their running bank balance.
Parents can create tasks, initiate and pay allowances for chores or other activities, establish spending limits, receive notifications when your children use their cards anywhere in the United States as well as decide where they can spend their money on the card.
Further, the app allows you to set savings goals, keep track of spending, check account balances and transactions, and even pay back money to a parent’s account if they borrowed funds.
When you open a GoHenry account, you should receive your children’s debit cards in the mail seven to eight business days later. Once you do, you can set up events such as automatic weekly allowance transfers into your children’s accounts, real-time spending alerts, and one-off or weekly spending limits. You can also keep your children’s spending in check by choosing the stores where your kids can shop, and even blocking/unblocking the card as needed.
With time, the controls provided by the app and the guidance you offer can help your kids develop good money habits around earning, saving, spending, and giving.
But GoHenry really sticks out as one of the best debit cards for kids for customer service. They offer everyday phone availability, email access, and social media engagement, ensuring users can solve their problems quickly and with little hassle.
GoHenry has no minimum age requirements but recommends starting at age 6 or older.
Learn more by reading our GoHenry debit card review.
- A financial app and debit card designed to give young people ages 6-18 a bright financial future.
- Kids can earn allowance, complete chores, set savings goals, give to charity, and bank with GoHenry.
- Use the app to build a solid financial education.
- Among the best customer service in kids' debit cards, offering everyday phone availability, email access, and social media engagement.
- Parental controls at store category level
- Can implement chore and allowance system
- Financial literacy resources
- Customized card for $4.99
- High price point for multiple children
- No paired investment account
Related: 13 Best Money Apps for Teens [Invest, Spend, Budget + Pay]
5. Step Banking (Best for Building Credit)
- Available: Sign up here
- Devices: Android, Apple iOS/iPhone/iPad
- Price: Free (No monthly fees)
- Recommended Ages: 6+
The free Step Visa Card is a unique “hybrid” spending card that functions like a debit card, but also boasts some of the features of a Visa credit card—including the ability to build your child’s credit history.
Step doesn’t provide in-app chore tracking functionality but it does provide for allowance payments. The app allows you to automate your child’s allowance and adjust it depending on whether they stepped it up or slacked off per your agreed upon chores. (You can leave it static if you don’t pay an allowance based on chores and instead have it automatically transfer.)
Setting up an allowance with Step is easy. Once you’ve opened and funded your Step account, all you need to do is:
- Open your app and select your child’s account.
- Tap “Add Allowance” from the Quick Actions Menu.
- Set a frequency, start date, and amount. You can edit or skip payments at any time. (To edit a recurring payment, follow these same steps and make changes to the amount, frequency, or add a payment note. You can also toggle the payment on and off from this screen.)
As for taking full advantage of the other features of the card? Parents add money to this FDIC-insured account and can determine how their child can spend. A regular Step account allows a child to have both a physical spending card as well as a virtual card in the Step app, while a Parent Managed Account only allows the child to spend via a physical card. Either way, they can use their card anywhere Visa is accepted. Children can also use their cards to withdraw money from more than 30,000 ATMs for free.
And parents needn’t fear that their child will overdraft—they can’t spend any money they don’t have.
Further, the Step Card comes protected by Visa’s Fraud Protection and Zero Liability guarantee. That means if your teen’s card gets lost or stolen, or misplaced and fraudulent charges crop up, you can dispute the charges within a certain time frame to avoid liability for paying.
And Step is absolutely free: No monthly fees, no subscription fees, no account minimum fees, and no ATM fees within Step’s network of 30,000+ ATMs.
Read more in our Step review.
- The Step Visa Card is a one-of-a-kind "hybrid" spending card that can help you to build your credit history via everyday purchases, even before you turn 18.
- Earn a high 5% annual rate on up to $250,000 in your Savings Goals with qualifying direct deposits.*
- Buy and sell fractional shares of stocks, ETFs, and Bitcoin for as low as $1.
- Earn cash and crypto rewards when you use your Step Visa at participating merchants.
- Send and receive money instantly, spend with Apple and Google Pay.
- Pay allowance weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.
- Track your card balance from the Step App.
- Banking services, provided by Evolve Bank & Trust, are FDIC-insured for up to $250,000.
- Helps build credit
- Free secured card for kids, teens, and young adults
- High yield on money held in Savings Goals
- Free investment account for stocks, ETFs, and Bitcoin
- Fractional investing for as low as $1
- FDIC insurance
- High-yield savings only available with qualifying monthly direct deposit*
- Can't directly deposit checks into a Step account
Related: Best Step Banking Alternatives
6. Homey
- Available: Sign up here
- Devices: Android, Apple iOS/iPhone/iPad
- Price: Basic Homey: Free; Homey Unlimited: $4.99 per month or $49.99 annually
- 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.
- Homey lets you set daily, weekly or monthly recurring chores and motivate your kids to work for their earnings.
- The app enables you to set responsibilities and paid jobs for each family member, and manage their privileges, rewards and allowance.
Related: Best Investing Apps for Teens Under 18 [Stock Apps for Teens]
7. OurHome
- Devices: Android, Apple iOS/iPhone/iPad
- Price: Free
- Recommended Age: 6-13
Count OurHome as another option for household chore apps on this list.
It allows you to track chores and rewards for your family in and around the home, assigning a specific amount of points for each task under a point system, such as 30 points for taking out the trash, 50 points for washing dishes or 10 for bringing clothes to the washroom.
You can even deduct points from someone in the family who misses an assigned chore or completes it behind schedule. While Homey allows you to translate points into money, OurHome allows you to do whatever you like with the point totals.
This means the highest point recipient can win a Happy Meal, a trip to the movies (they still exist!) or something else the family would want. It doesn’t necessarily have to amount to money and can be events meant to boost happiness and self-esteem.
You can use the family calendar feature to schedule and assign chores on a chore list and other actions as well set specific tasks.
The app provides you with ways to stay connected like a family chat feature, family tasks calendar, and a grocery list for everyone to add what they need.
8. Chase First Banking (Best Free Allowance App for Kids From a Bank)
- Available: Sign up here
- Devices: Android, Apple iOS/iPhone/iPad
- Price: Free (no monthly fees)
- Recommended Age: All ages, 6-17
Ready to teach your little ones about money, but not quite sure if you have the time, patience and expertise?
Chase First BankingSM offers simple banking for both of you in one location: the Chase Mobile® App—for free. Manage all accounts with this mobile app and encounter no fees as well as find yourself able to withdraw money on 16,000 Chase ATMs around the country. The account is designed with kids 6-12 in mind, and available for ages 6-17.
At the heart of the Chase First BankingSM teen checking account sits one of the best free debit cards for kids and teens that works anywhere Visa is accepted.
Need insight and oversight into your child’s spending and saving? You can set spend alerts and limits as well as specific locations all in your Chase Mobile® app.
Teach your kids to spend, save and earn — all from the Chase Mobile® app. Chase First BankingSM helps parents teach teens and kids about money by giving parents the control they want and kids the freedom they need to learn.
To get started, you’ll first need to be a Chase customer with a qualifying Chase checking account.
Consider opening a Chase Total Checking SM or Chase Secure BankingSM account to qualify.
- Chase Total CheckingSM also grants access to 16,000 Chase ATMs and more than 4,700 branches as well as a $200 sign up bonus when you set up direct deposit within 90 days of coupon enrollment. You can pay $0 in monthly fees, subject to meeting certain conditions*.
- Chase Secure BankingSM offers the same Chase ATMs and branch locations as well as a $100 sign up bonus when you make stated qualifying activities and meet certain conditions.
Once you open a qualifying Chase Checking account, you may apply for a Chase First BankingSM account for your child.
Learn more in our Chase First Banking review.
- Chase First Banking offers simple banking for both of you in one location: the Chase Mobile® App—for free.
- The account is designed with kids 6-12 in mind, and available for ages 6-17.
- You can set spend alerts and limits as well as specific locations all in your Chase Mobile® app.
- Teach your kids to spend, save and earn with Chase First Banking. The account helps parents teach teens and kids about money by giving parents the control they want and kids the freedom they need to learn.
- No monthly maintenance fees
- Chore and allowance functionality
- Parental controls on types of expenses
- No paired investment account
- No interest
Related: Best Debit Cards for Teens
Allowance + Chore Apps for Kids: FAQs
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.
