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

They say that cash “burns a hole in your pocket.” That’s because the money is just sitting right there, making it easy to spend. Many people find it extremely difficult to save cash.

Then there are credit cards. Credit cards, while great if you use them responsibly, can make new cardholders feel like they have unlimited spending power … and that can lead to overspending. (Also, credit cards are just about spending; they teach you nothing about saving.)

That’s why in many ways, the money apps for teens below are better than cash or credit cards.

Money apps can address multiple financial needs and accomplish several goals. For instance, a budgeting app might only help you budget—but a money app might help you budget, spend responsibly, manage a bank account, and even allow you to invest.

So … what’s the best app for you? Today, we’re going to help you answer that question by examining some of the best money apps for teens. We’ll explain what each app can do, discuss any of its outstanding features (and any noteworthy drawbacks). And after that, we’ll tackle some of the most common questions people ask when it comes to deciding on what teen-focused financial app to download.

Related: Money Apps for Young Kids

Best Money Apps for Teens—Our Top Picks

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Best Money Apps for Teens: Bank Accounts + Debit Cards

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

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• Available: Read our review and sign up
• Price: Free (no monthly fees)

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.

 

2. GoHenry (Best Budgeting App for Teens)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Price: 1 month free. Individual: $4.99/child/mo. Family: $9.98/mo. for up to four children

GoHenry is a banking app for teens that’s paired with a debit card for each of your children. Your online account is linked to each one of your children’s individual accounts, and you can manage all of the money held in each account—as well as set parental controls—via the company’s app or online account portal.

When you open a GoHenry account, you’ll receive your children’s debit cards in the mail seven to eight business days later. Then you can set up an automatic weekly allowance transfer into your children’s accounts, as well as establish one-off or weekly spending limits to keep their spending in check. You can also choose the stores where your kids can shop, and you can easily block/unblock the card.

Another great feature of GoHenry is that your children can spend only the money available on the card, meaning you don’t need to worry about incurring costly overdraft fees or accruing debt.

With time, the controls provided by the GoHenry app and the guidance you offer can help your kids to earn, save, spend, and give more intelligently and responsibly.

Learn more by reading our GoHenry debit card review.

Related: GoHenry vs. Greenlight

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

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• Available: Sign up here
• Price: No monthly fees

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.

Related: Top Banking Apps for Kids

4. FamZoo (Best for Financial Education)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Price: Free trial. Then $5.99/mo., $25.99/6 mos., $39.99/12 mos. or $59.99/24 mos. (all per family)

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

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.

After a free trial, this app costs $5.99 per month, but the price goes down if prepaid in advance.

However, FamZoo rates as our top education choice because of its robust financial education library. Many of the functions have financial literacy in mind, too. For instance, payment checklists teach kids the value of a dollar by tying chores and odd jobs to rewards and penalties.

Spend, Save, and Give accounts separate funds into different purposes. And with “Parent-Paid Interest,” you can teach your kids the power of compound interest over time.

FamZoo has no minimum age requirements but recommends starting earlier rather than later.

Related: Greenlight vs. Famzoo

Best Money Apps for Under 18: Investing Apps

5. Greenlight App (Best Premium Money App for Teens)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Price: Starts at $5.99/mo. (one account is good for up to five kids)

Greenlight started as a money app for teens focused on helping kids manage their money while establishing parental oversight.

Greenlight works like a prepaid debit card. You can choose how much money to load onto the card and it will be cleared to make approved purchases so long as a money balance backs up the card. Teenagers who have jobs can add their own funds to the card as well.

But Greenlight provides parents with control over where their teens can spend money by limiting the stores where their cards work. Parents also can receive alerts when money is spent. Teens who want extra money can request it and even include a photo of the purchase they want to make. 

Greenlight also has numerous safety features. Your child needs permission to move money out of the account. Further, Greenlight encrypts data and pictures of your child, preventing that information from being accessed by anyone but yourself. Each Greenlight card comes with a PIN number (like a traditional debit card). And every account is FDIC-insured.

The Greenlight card is accepted at any ATM that accepts Mastercard, Visa, Interlink or Maestro cards. (Just note that most ATMs charge withdrawal fees, and these fees will be charged per withdrawal.)

The Greenlight debit card for teens is a good choice for parents interested in teaching kids about money, including the importance of saving money and being prudent with their personal finances. It can also be used to build teenage money management skills. This financial product can be an effective learning tool for helping kids to understand why saving should be a priority. It can also be used to simplify paying an allowance or tracking chores.

Consider Greenlight’s debit card if you want to have control over what your kids buy and also teach them about responsible spending.

Related: 8 Best Allowance and Chore Apps for Kids [Easier Family Life]

6. Copper Card (Best Financial Literacy App for Managing Money)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Price: Variable pricing on Copper and Copper + Invest plans

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 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.

Related: Best Debit Cards for Kids

7. Acorns (All-In-One Personal Finance App + Robo-Advisor)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Price: Acorns Personal: $3/mo. Acorns Personal Plus: $6/mo. Acorns Premium: $12/mo.

Acorns has become one of the most popular money apps for teens and young adults by offering a robust money management platform. That’s why we’ve included it here for a second time.

The full suite of offerings includes the ability to establish custodial accounts for minors to invest, regular and retirement investment accounts for adults, and bank accounts with linked Visa debit cards. This bank account—Acorns Checking, which comes with Acorns Personal, Personal Plus, and Premium subscriptions—is an FDIC-insured account that features no overdraft fees, no minimum balance fees, and no hidden fees.

In addition to Acorns’ Round-Ups mentioned above, Acorns Earn allows users to earn bonus investments from more than 450 partner brands, including Apple, Walmart, and Nike.

For a limited time, the service also offers a $20 sign-up bonus for opening an account.

Related: Apps Like Acorns [Alternatives to Use Instead]

 

Best Money Apps for Teens: Peer-to-Peer Payments

8. Cash App (Best Free Payment Transfer App for Teens)

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

Cash App markets itself as a smarter way to manage your money. Whether you’re looking to send, spend, bank, or buy stocks or bitcoin, Cash App has several useful features that allow you to handle, save, and invest your money.

Sending and receiving payments is free with Cash App, so you can rest assured knowing that your money is always accounted for when you transfer funds to friends and family.

Cash App is one of the few payment platforms that lets teens pay and receive money from each other through the app, albeit with some lower limits than competing solutions we highlight here: up to $1,000 per 30-day period in peer-to-peer transactions. While certainly sufficient for most situations, this is one limitation worth highlighting about the service. One other limitation comes from a lack of instant account notifications when a teen spends money. Parents will have insight into their teens’ activity through monthly statements.

One safeguard worth highlighting to concerned parents: Cash App prohibits transactions at certain locations or for different types of services. Liquor stores? Nope. Online dating sites: Not happening. Gambling: Think again. These curbs can assuage some anxiety. We recommend having important money conversations to teach your kids about managing money.

To add a teen age 13 to 18 to your Cash App account, a parent or guardian over the age of 18 will need to set up their own account as legal owner and approve their teen to join the account. You can download Cash App today.

Related: How to Start a College Fund [529s + More]

9. Apple Cash Family (Apple Wallet/Apple Pay)

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

Apple Cash Family is a powerful family sharing feature of the Apple Pay and Apple Wallet system. Parents can set up an Apple Cash account for their children as part of their Apple Cash Family account. We’ll note, however, by adding your children to your Apple Cash Family account, security checks might require more time to make funds available to your children. However, you can send or receive a significant amount of money should you have the need: up to $2,000 per transaction or within a seven-day period.

Apple Cash Family gives parents robust monitoring and oversight of their kids’ money within the account. Further, since Apple has a robust brand presence and acceptance from a huge number of retailers, an Apple Cash Family account is arguably one of the closest options to physical cash on the market.

Related: Best Online Jobs for Teens to Earn Money Working From Home

10. Google Pay

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

For parents interested in equipping their kids with a financial solution within the Google universe, you might want to consider enrolling in Google Pay for your kids. Teens as young as 13 can use the service by having their parents add them as a payment method to their account. From there, they can set limits and safeguards to use on specified apps or in-app purchases within the Google Play store. In other words, it can only be used digitally on the Google Play store platform—not at physical locations.

Teens can only make certain purchases with Google Pay, such as apps, books, movies, games, TV shows, and magazine issues. But they can’t use it to buy subscriptions, physical devices, outside Google Pay purchases, funding a Google Play balance. Nor can it be used to send money from parent to teen, nor the teen to other people.

Related: Best Teen Credit Cards for Building Credit

Do Money Apps for Teens Provide Money Management Resources?

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What distinguishes a generic money app from a money app for teens is the focus toward building financial literacy and providing approachable money management resources.

Whether it’s to help teenagers save money, learn about budgeting, or better understand the basics of finance, many money apps for teens come loaded with useful resources that can help them better manage their finances. These resources can include items such as educational articles, videos and tutorials, gamified experiences, or informational activities, all of which explain financial concepts like credit cards and debit cards, investing, spending or saving—even taxes.

And to make parents feel comfortable knowing these resources are helpful for guiding teens on the prudent financial path, some money apps also offer features that enable parents to monitor their child’s spending or allow teens to set saving goals and track their progress.

Ultimately, money apps for teens can be incredibly useful tools for teaching young people about sound money management in a way that is both engaging and accessible.

Should Teens Use Budgeting Apps to Learn How to Spend Money Wisely?

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Absolutely! Using budgeting apps are one of the best ways for teens to learn how to spend money wisely. With a variety of features that help track expenses and income, budgeting apps can be useful to monitor spending and provide valuable insight into where money is being spent and how to make better financial decisions.

While not a substitute for developing your own personal finance skills, budgeting apps can be an effective way to manage money.

Can Teens Open an Investment Account by Themselves?

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In the world of investing, teenagers aren’t allowed to open investment accounts by themselves due to legal restrictions, even through investing apps targeted specifically toward teens. Instead, they’ll need the assistance of an adult to open an investment account. (The law prohibits minors from entering into legally binding contracts, including investment accounts.)

Despite the legal condition, this doesn’t mean teenagers are completely barred from investing in the stock market. In fact, they have several options available to them, all of which require the help of an adult. The three primary means for a teen to invest money through an investment account include:

• Joint brokerage accounts enable teens to invest alongside their parents or guardians, sharing ownership of the account.
• Custodial brokerage accounts are managed by an adult custodian who acts as a legal guardian and oversees the minor’s investments until they reach the age of majority.
• Custodial individual retirement accounts (IRAs) are geared toward teens who want to save for retirement. Like custodial brokerage accounts, these accounts are also managed by an adult custodian who oversees the contributions made into the account. Once the minor reaches adulthood, they can take over management of the account and continue making contributions towards their retirement. Teens will need earned income to contribute to an IRA.