Acorns Early Review [2025]: Kids’ Banking + Investing

Since acquiring GoHenry, a debit card and mobile app for kids and teens, Acorns provides money management features to children as young as six through Acorns Early. Based on our research, this platform is a stand-out option for families who already invest with Acorns, kids who would benefit from robust educational tools, and parents who want plenty of control over how, when, and where their children spend. Acorns Early is also unique for making it easier for relatives and friends to send your kids money. 

But for all its benefits, Acorns Early is more expensive than other debit cards for kids, and it lacks some features found with competitors like Greenlight, such as the ability for kids to invest for themselves. Here's our honest take on Acorns Early and who it might be best for.

What is Acorns Early?

There are two accounts that include "Acorns Early" in their name: Acorns Early kids' money management accounts and Acorns Early Invest accounts.

Acorns Early accounts include debit cards for kids and apps with features for both children and their parents, and Acorns Early Invest (or just Early Invest) accounts are separate custodial accounts that parents can open on behalf of their kids. Both accounts use the same mobile app, but you open them separately.

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What is Acorns Early + how does it work?

	Acorns Early
Monthly fee	$5 per month for one child or $10 per month for up to four Free for Acorns Gold subscribers
Permitted ages	Six to 18
Free trial	30 days
Maximum number of accounts	Four kids
Parental controls	Chores, allowance, spending and saving controls, block or unblock the debit card, spending notifications, merchant blocks and limits, parent-paid interest
ATM withdrawals	No fees charged by Acorns
Spending/account limits	$2,500 in daily transactions ($5,000 over four days) $120 in daily ATM withdrawals ($480 over four days) $500 Giftlink maximum $6,000 maximum balance for parent account
FDIC insurance	Acorns partners with Community Federal Savings Bank (Member FDIC, Cert. #57129) to offer coverage up to $250,000
	Visit Acorns

Acorns Early, formerly GoHenry, offers kids' banking features with a child-friendly mobile app. Parents open and manage the accounts and have control over how much money their children have access to, while kids and teens can spend with prepaid debit cards online and in-person, budget, save and set goals, and even donate to charity.

To get more money into their accounts, kids can earn allowances, complete chores assigned by their parents, and receive gifts from family and friends via Giftlinks and Relatives accounts. Not many kids' banking platforms make it this easy for people who don't own the accounts to add money, so this is a point in Acorns Early's favor. Teens at least 14 years old who work can also receive their paychecks as direct deposits, which is somewhat unique.

What is Acorns Early Invest + how does it work?

	Early Invest
Minimum investment	$5
Management fees	$12 per month for an Acorns Gold Plan
Asset classes	ETFs (including ETFS for stocks, bonds, real estate, and other types of assets)
Account types available	UTMA / UGMA custodial account
	Visit Acorns

Acorns Early Invest is a custodial brokerage account. You (the parent) or any other adult can open the account on behalf of the child and invest and manage it. Children can take control of the account when they reach the age of transfer, which is 18 to 25 in most states.

With Early Invest, you can set up and manage Uniform Transfer/Gift to Minors accounts (UTMA/UGMA) for any number of children in your family, and you can use the funds for more than just college, unlike a 529 savings plan.

Any expenses that benefit your child are eligible, so there's much more flexibility. So whether you're paying for your child's braces, sleepaway camp, or their first car, you can use the funds from Early Invest.

If you've ever used a robo-advisor before, Early Invest works the same by letting you invest in various ETFs. The difference is that the platform automatically invests the funds in an "aggressive" portfolio because kids have so much time to let funds grow, so there's more room to take chances. You can't change to a different portfolio.

Who is Acorns Early best for?

Acorns Early is one of the better choices I've found for kids' banking, but it's especially well-suited to:

• Kids primarily focused on spending and budgeting
• Families that use chores and allowance
• Parents who want to incentivize their children to learn

Acorns Early's spending and budgeting tools for kids are top-notch, and the platform offers excellent tools for scheduling tasks and automated payments to kids.

It's also one of the best options for teaching kids about money because its financial literacy educational resources, called Money Missions, are fun and engaging. They feature short lessons targeted to different age groups, with Level 1 being for kids over six, Level 2 being for kids between 12 and 14, and Level 3 being for teens between 15 and 18.

Acorns Early wasn't always a fantastic option for older kids and teens, but it has vastly improved its resources for this age group. I also like that Acorns Early lets parents assign learning as paid tasks just like any other chore.

Who is Acorns Early not right for?

Acorns Early doesn't let kids invest directly, so we wouldn't recommend it to parents who want to give their children a taste of this key money management skill.

It's also not a viable option for families with more than four kids between the ages of six and 18, and it wouldn't be my first pick for kids primarily focused on saving because Acorns does not pay interest on savings (although parent-paid interest is better than nothing).

Acorns Early is only available to kids over the age of six, so you'll need to consider another option if your child is younger than this.

Learn more: Best Debit Cards for Kids

Acorns Early alternatives

Greenlight

Greenlight has been compared to GoHenry, now Acorns Early, since the dawn of time (or, at least, the dawn of both platforms). And there's good reason for this — the two are more similar than not, with more parental controls and ways for kids to use and receive money than many competitors provide.

But Greenlight has Acorns Early beat when it comes to value. Not only does it support five kids, one more than Acorns Early, but you can subscribe for as little as $5.99 a month for the whole family. Greenlight also gives kids access to investing, pays cash back on debit card transactions, pays interest on savings balances, and even includes safety features.

They both offer one-month free trials. If you're on the fence, I suggest trying Acorns Early and Greenlight to see which platform and features you and your child(ren) prefer.

Visit Greenlight | Read our full Greenlight review

Modak Makers

A relatively new one on the scene, Modak Makers differs from both Acorns Early and Greenlight by charging no monthly fees. It includes basic features like chores and allowance and savings goals, plus less-common perks like the ability for kids to earn rewards by learning. It could be a good alternative to GoHenry if you want to avoid subscription fees while helping your children to grow their skills with fun and rewarding educational resources, plus healthy challenges like walking.

The Modak Makers app isn't the most impressive we've seen, and the platform doesn't let kids invest or donate to charity, but this option is heads and tails above many free kids' debit cards.

Visit Modak Makers

FAQs

Bottom line

Acorns Early kids' debit cards are one of the best options on the market for parents who want control and kids who want choices, although the platform falls just a bit short of some of its competitors, like Greenlight, when you look at features and value. Still, I'd confidently recommend these prepaid debit cards for young kids, especially only children, and teens earning their own paychecks.

If you're already an Acorns Gold investor, it's worth setting up a free Acorns Early account for your kids to help show them the ropes of financial responsibility and money management. Early Invest accounts are also worth considering if you want to invest on your kids' behalf in a potentially tax-advantaged account.

Learn More

4.6

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Kids’ debit cards and banking included with Acorns Gold

Acorns Early includes chores and many parental controls

One-month free trial

Better educational resources than other kids’ banking apps

Paid Non-Client Promotion

FinanceBuzz doesn’t invest its money with this provider, but they are our referral partner. We get paid by them only if you click to them from our website and take a qualifying action (for example, opening an account.)