BusyKid vs. GoHenry Comparison
BusyKid Overview
- Available: Sign up here
- Save/Invest: Parents can automatically allocate money toward a savings basket, and they can also match any money their children elect to save.
- Spend: When your kid is ready for a little independence, they can spend from this account using BusyKid’s Visa Spend Card.
- Share: Children can choose which charities they would like to give money to, and parents must approve before the cash is transferred.
- BusyKid is an award-winning, parent-approved app that educates kids about money.
- Parents can pay allowance on an ad hoc basis, or they can set up Auto-Allowance.
- Parents can split allowance money across Save (and even match money in the Save category), Spend (which kids can access with their Visa Spend Card), and Donate (children can choose charities to donate to; parents must approve).
- Parents can set up a separate Apex Clearing brokerage account to allow their children to invest earnings through BusyKid, with as little as $10.
- Feature-heavy allowance function
- Offers investment functionality
- Combines several kid-focused financial needs in one app
- Charges a fee
- Lower customer user ratings than competitors
BusyKid Plans + Costs
BusyKid has a simple, single subscription tier that costs $3.99 per month, which is billed annually, so you pay $38.99 once per year.
Plan | Monthly Fee | Features Offered Under Plan |
---|---|---|
BusyKid | $4/mo. (Billed annually, so $48/yr.) | - BusyKid Visa Spend Cards for up to five kids - Core financial tools - Parental controls - Chores - Allowance - Savings matches - Ability to earn, save, spend, invest and give |
BusyKid Features
Below, I’ve listed a number of BusyKid’s most prominent features. Like with all debit cards aimed at children and teens, some of these features are for the kids, but others are meant to keep parents happy (and sane).
BusyKid Visa Spend Card
The BusyKid Visa Spend Card is a prepaid debit card for kids and teens that acts as the physical central point of the BusyKid experience. Each BusyKid subscription comes with up to five of these kids’ debit cards, which are intended for use by children ages 5 through 17. Kids can choose from a small selection of more than 10 designs. The adults can instantly transfer funds at any time. Kids have to follow the set spending limits, so they can’t overspend as they learn money management skills. Every debit card is backed by the Visa Zero Liability guarantee, which means if your kid’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. Related: Best Money Apps for KidsParental Controls
Parental controls are essential for parents who want to retain some peace of mind while their kids develop money management skills. With BusyKid, parents can monitor all transactions made either in the app or with the BusyKid Visa Spend Card. BusyKid’s parental controls are pretty rudimentary. By using the “Lock Money Transfers” feature, parents can prevent their kids from transferring money among their Save, Share, and Spend areas. Kids will still be able to use the money in these accounts, but each transaction will require a parent’s approval.Chores + Allowance
Some parents like to pay an allowance to their younger children, and this might or might not be connected to chore completion. BusyKid allows you to pay an allowance to and/or set chores up for your child. For chores, parents can set up their own chores and payment amounts, or they can use BusyKid’s preset chore chart, where chores and allowance are preset based on a child’s age. As kids complete their chores, they can click “I did it!” inside the BusyKid app. BusyKid pays kids each Friday based on any chores the child has marked “Done” since the previous Friday. Parents will be notified and asked to approve; when it is, it will be deposited into the child’s various account areas depending on how their allocations were set up.BusyPay
The BusyPay feature lets family and friends instantly send money to a BusyKid account, whether it’s as a birthday or holiday gift, payment for helping out, or just because. It’s easy, too—a child just has to share a QR code, and anyone can pay them. (Note: The payer is charged a $1 fee to use this feature.) Related: How to Get Free Money [Ways to Earn Money]Bonuses + Savings Matches
Several BusyKid features help your children accelerate their earning and saving. For instance, let’s say your teen stepped up to babysit a younger sibling, or one of your kids got a perfect report card—BusyKid allows parents to pay a bonus to any of their kid’s account areas or even directly to the BusyKid Spend Card. Parents can also establish a savings match, which is similar to a 401(k) match. Parents simply select a weekly percentage match, or a monthly max that’s dividend equally across all the weeks in a month, and BusyKid will transfer the appropriate amount of additional funds to the kid’s account based on how much they save. Related: Best Round Up Apps + Savings AccountsInvesting
Learning to invest is an important part of the personal finance journey. BusyKid helps children with that journey by providing commission-free stock trading. BusyKid offers commission-free trading of stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), allowing kids to start investing with as little as $10. BusyKid provides access to “hundreds” of popular stocks and ETFs—a considerably smaller selection than the thousands of stocks and ETFs available from traditional brokerage accounts, but a sufficient world of assets to get a child started. Related: Best Trading Apps for Under 18 [Investing Apps for Teens]Charities
Parents who want to instill the importance of giving back to their children at a young age can allow their kids to donate a percentage of their allowances to charity. Kids can choose among roughly 50 charities, and BusyKid even welcomes suggestions for other charities to add. You can sign up for BusyKid here. Related: Best Credit Cards for Kids [Kid-Friendly Credit Cards]GoHenry Overview
- Available: Sign up here
- 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.
- Limited-Time Offer: Get $5 in free allowance for activating your GoHenry account.
- 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
GoHenry Plans + Costs
GoHenry offers a one-month free trial, then two pricing options, depending on the number of children:
Plan | Monthly Fee | Features Offered Under Plan |
---|---|---|
Individual | $4.99/mo. | - GoHenry card for one child - Parental controls - Allowance and chores - Instant money transfers - Savings goals - Money missions - Giftlinks |
Family | $9.99/mo. | Everything in the Individual plan, for up to four children |
GoHenry Features
Below, I’ve listed a number of GoHenry’s most prominent features. Many of them are designed to keep kids and teens happy, but others help parents keep an eye on their children’s spending.
GoHenry Card
The GoHenry card is a Mastercard-branded prepaid debit card that can be used anywhere Mastercard is accepted. Parents load their parent account via a linked debit card or credit card, though GoHenry doesn’t allow you to fund via American Express. Parents load their children’s GoHenry cards from the parent account. Each child can choose from 45 different GoHenry debit card designs or create a customized card for $4.99. When you open a GoHenry account, you should receive your children’s debit cards in the mail seven to nine business days later. ATM charges are a weak spot here. While many kids’ debit cards have fee-free ATM networks, GoHenry does not. GoHenry itself won’t charge your child for withdrawing money from an ATM, they will incur a third-party fee from virtually any ATM. GoHenry caps ATM withdrawals to $120 per day and $480 within four days, as well as three withdrawals in one day and four within four days. The card offers chip and PIN-protected transactions, bank-level encryption, and secure PIN recovery through the app. Cardholders also benefit from Mastercard Zero Liability Protection. This means you and your child aren’t held responsible for any unauthorized transactions as long as you used reasonable care to protect the card from loss or theft and promptly reported any fraudulent charges to GoHenry.Parental Controls
GoHenry offers a few parental controls to ensure children are using their debit cards responsibly, including:- Spending overviews
- Real-time spending alerts
- Single-transaction and/or weekly spending limits
- ATM withdrawal limits
- Enabling/disabling spending at ATMs, in stores, and/or online
Allowance + Chores
Parents can reduce their mental load and put allowance on repeat every week. Just choose the amount, and the day of the week, and it’ll automatically be sent to your kids from then on. You can also set chores for your child, such as walking the dog, doing homework, or sweeping. Kids get paid as chores are marked completed either by you or your child. Any chores marked as complete will be paid out when weekly allowance is due.Instant Money Transfers
In addition to paying a regular allowance, parents can click “Quick Transfer” to instantly send money to a child at any time. Instant money transfers are a great way to reward a child, gift money for a special occasion, or send money in the event of an emergency.Savings Goals
Kids can set up savings goals through GoHenry to start building the essential habit of setting money aside. They can set a target amount and/or date and, if they find it motivating, add an image. GoHenry also offers weekly autosaving to help children reach their goals faster. Related: 7 Best Investments for Kids [Investing for Children]Parent-Paid Interest
Earning interest is an excellent way to motivate kids to save. While GoHenry itself doesn’t pay interest, it does offer parent-paid interest. When this feature is enabled, parents can pay a predetermined rate on any deposits in the child’s savings account. The interest is paid on the first of each month from the parent’s account.Money Missions
In addition to the hands-on financial experience kids gain through GoHenry’s debit card, they can increase their financial literacy through GoHenry’s in-app Money Missions. The short stories, videos, and quizzes are easy to binge, and learning is gamified through earning badges. These lessons are tailored for your child’s age, so younger kids learn money basics and older kids learn more advanced topics. Money Missions are developed by teachers and financial education experts and follow the K-12 Personal Finance Education National Standards. My suggestion? Give your kids small monetary rewards for successfully completing lessons.Giftlinks
You’re not the only one who can send money securely to your child through GoHenry. Anyone you give a Giftlink to can send money as well. So if grandparents want to send money for a birthday or a family friend wants to gift money for a baptism, they can easily do so without anyone needing to deal with cash. They can even add a personal message. The sender doesn’t even need to have the GoHenry app. All they need is a credit card or debit card registered to a valid U.S. address (Cash, checks, nor prepaid debit cards won’t work, however.)Customer Service
GoHenry has some of the best customer service among kids’ debit card providers. They offer everyday phone availability (9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET), email access, and social media engagement. Interested in GoHenry? You can sign up here. Related: 4 Best Ways to Save Money for Kids [Children’s Savings Plans]BusyKid vs. GoHenry: Our Editors’ Choice Is …
BusyKid and GoHenry are both paid plans, so it makes sense to only choose one. For some families, BusyKid may make more sense. The biggest advantage BusyKid has over GoHenry is that children can own stocks and ETFs in the investment account for kids, which isn’t possible with GoHenry. It also has fee-free ATM access to more than 55K ATMs. While you can withdraw money from ATMs with the GoHenry card, the ATM operator will charge a fee. Plus, a BusyKid account is slightly more affordable. But, if you’re willing to pay a little extra, GoHenry is the better option for most families. GoHenry offers many more parental controls for parents nervous about giving their kids their first debit cards. Children have more design options to choose from and they can improve their financial literacy through GoHenry’s videos and quizzes. Older kids (14+) can use direct deposit to send paychecks to their accounts. If it’s important to you for your child to use this account for investing, you should sign up for BusyKid instead of GoHenry. For most people, though, trying a 1-month GoHenry free trial makes more sense.
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Other Debit Cards for Kids to Consider
Are neither BusyKid nor GoHenry the best fit for you and your family? You may want to try one of these other highly rated debit cards for teens.
1. Greenlight (Best-Rated Debit Card for Teens)
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: Free 1-month trial. Core: $4.99/mo. Max: $9.98/mo. Infinity: $14.98/mo. (All plans include cards for up to 5 children)
- 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
2. Fidelity Youth™ Account (Best Free Debit Card With Teen Investing)
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: No account fees¹, no account minimum, no trading commissions*
Controls parents want and need
A parent or guardian must have or open a brokerage account with Fidelity® to open a Fidelity Youth Account. For new Fidelity® customers, opening an account is easy, and there are no minimums and no account fees. Having a Fidelity account gives parents and guardians access to plenty of tools they can use to monitor their teen’s activity: They have online account access, can follow monthly statements and trade confirmations, and can view debit card transactions made in the account. To make it even easier, you can set up alerts to notify you of your teen’s trades, transactions, and cash management activity, keeping you firmly in the loop on actions your teen takes across the Fidelity Youth Account’s suite of products. If your teen has an interest in learning about investing, becoming smarter about money, and taking their first steps toward building their financial journey, you should consider downloading the Fidelity Youth app and opening a Fidelity Youth Account. The account comes custom-built for their needs, which will help them become financially independent and start investing for their future. Read more in our Fidelity Youth Account review.- The Fidelity Youth™ Account is a free¹ account where teens can save, spend, and invest their own money.
- No monthly fees or account minimums to open.
- Your teen can learn to save and spend smarter with their own debit card, which features no domestic ATM fees.²
- Teens can invest in stocks for as little as $1 with fractional shares.³
- Parents can set up alerts and monitor their teen's account activity online, and through statements, trade confirmations, and debit card transactions.
- The Fidelity Youth™ app will have a dedicated Youth Learn tab to help jumpstart your teen's financial learning and build better money habits.
- No monthly account fees
- Investing feature
- Fractional shares
- Parental controls
- Comprehensive financial suite for teens
- Parent must be a Fidelity account holder
- Account balance doesn't accumulate interest
- No chore or allowance system
3. Revolut <18 (Fee-Free Prepaid Debit Card for Kids)
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: Free (no fees)
- Revolut <18 is a prepaid debit card for kids designed to assist parents teach kids ages 6-17 about money. Families can handle chores and allowance, create budgets, set parental controls and more.
- Revolut <18 comes with unique, customizable cards that parents can use to set up tasks and goals to work on together as a family.
- Prepaid debit card for teens
- Parental controls
- Round-ups
- Chore and allowance management
- Customizable designs (fees apply)
- Children can't load funds, only parents can
- Parents need to have a personal Revolut account
- Best Brokerage Accounts for Minors
- Best Trading Accounts for Minors
- Best Taxable Brokerage Accounts for Parents + Teens