GoHenry vs. Greenlight: Which One Is the Better Option for Your Family?

Are you looking for ways to teach your children financial literacy and money management? Two companies on a mission to do just that are GoHenry and Greenlight. Both offer prepaid debit cards for kids and tools that assist parents in allocating money to their kids in an effective way.

I prefer Greenlight as its basic plan is more cost-effective for families. Plus, its higher-priced plan, Greenlight Max, includes an investing component.

But which is likely to work best for your family? Here’s what you need to know about GoHenry vs. Greenlight.

Key takeaways

• Both GoHenry and Greenlight offer prepaid debit cards designed for children to help them learn about managing money.
• I prefer Greenlight because the basic plan is more cost-effective for families with multiple children.
• We also like that higher-priced Greenlight plans offer an investing component for families.

GoHenry vs. Greenlight

	GoHenry	Greenlight
Card type	Debit card	Debit card
Payment network	Mastercard	Mastercard
Monthly fee	$4.99 per child or $9.98 for up to four child accounts	Family plans for parents and up to five children: $5.99 Greenlight Core $9.98 Greenlight Max $14.98 Greenlight Infinity
Minimum age requirement	6 years old	None
Features	Up to four kids Savings goals Automatic payments Set spending limits Ability to turn cards on and off Custom card option Mobile app for iPhone and Android FDIC-insured	Up to five kids Savings goals Automatic payments Set spending controls Ability to turn cards on and off Round up feature that saves spare change Mobile app for iPhone and Android Works with Apple Pay and Google Pay Investing component Identity theft, cell phone, and purchase protection with Greenlight Max and Infinity FDIC-insured SIPC-insured investments
Best for...	Parents who want simple features that can help improve financial literacy	Parents who want to teach their kids about financial literacy concepts including investing and smart spending
	Visit GoHenry	Visit Greenlight

Our verdict

I prefer Greenlight due to its cost-effectiveness and robust features, including the ability to work with more common payment platforms as well as the investing component.

How does GoHenry work?

GoHenry is designed as a family money management app to teach kids about saving and how to manage money. After you sign up for GoHenry, you get customized debit cards for your kids. They can choose from different card designs, which isn't an option Greenlight offers.

To fund your children's accounts, start by adding money to your parent account using a debit card or other payment account (when doing the free trial, I found I could link a credit card to fund my son’s account). You can direct money into up to four kids’ accounts.

Key features of GoHenry

• Set tasks and payment amounts in the app (recurring allowances, payment for extra tasks, and more)
• Set spending limits for your child
• Money Missions enable your child to learn about financial concepts
• Send money instantly to your child’s account
• Direct Deposit available to teens
• Family and friends can send money to your child’s GoHenry account

Read our GoHenry review to learn more.

How does Greenlight work?

The basics of Greenlight are the same as those of GoHenry, with debit cards for kids and tools to help parents teach kids about money. As a parent, you can automate allowances and pay for extra tasks your children do.

Key features of Greenlight:

• Automate allowances and paid tasks
• Set spending limits and ATM limits for your children
• Teach money skills through financial literacy game
• Options for cash back on savings and purchases
• Boost savings through parent-paid interest
• Investing options for the top two membership tiers
• Phone, purchase, and ID theft protection for the top two tiers
• Driving alerts, crash detection, family location sharing and SOS alerts for Infinity plan

Greenlight goes above and beyond what GoHenry can offer, with added features like Parent-Paid Interest and investing options. If you choose an interest rate to pay your child, you can teach how compound interest works, for example.

Greenlight is also FDIC-insured for the banking products and Securities Investor Protection Corp.-insured for the investing account. With Greenlight, parents can fund their accounts from a bank account or debit card and send money to up to five kids.

Get a one-month free trial of Greenlight | Read our Greenlight review.

How GoHenry and Greenlight are equal

I like a lot of the primary features of both GoHenry and Greenlight. With my kids at ages nine and eleven, they’re ideal for me, with debit cards for kids and easy ways to automatic allowance payments.

Let’s look at some of the ways GoHenry and Greenlight come out even:

• Free one-month trial period
• Kids’ debit cards with parental controls and FDIC protection
• Tools to help kids set savings goals
• Financial literacy education through fun games and activities
• Simple parent-to-child money transfers
• Charity donation option

Both apps are great for helping build a successful financial future for your children.

How they differ

Now let’s check out the differences, so you can make an informed choice.

Pricing

Neither GoHenry nor Greenlight is free, and though the fees aren’t outlandish, I find Greenlight to be the winner in terms of pricing, unless you have only one child, in which case GoHenry is a dollar cheaper.

	Cost for basic plans
GoHenry	$4.99/month for 1 child; $9.98 for up to 4 children
Greenlight	$5.99/month for up to 5 children

Greenlight also has three tiers of membership that offer increasing levels of features and services. If you only want the basic debit cards and you have at least two children, you’ll save money by using Greenlight. And if you’re looking for added benefits, here’s more on how Greenlight’s pricing works (all three plans work for up to 5 kids).

Core: $5.99/month for debit cards, automatic and special payments, and financial literacy game, earn up to 2% on savings through Parent-Paid Interest

Max: $9.98/month for Core features plus: earn up to 3% on savings, earn 1% cash on purchases, get access to Investing for kids and protection for phone, purchases, and identity theft

Infinity: $14.98/month for Max features plus: earn up to 5% on savings; driving reports, alerts, and crash detection; family location sharing and SOS alerts

Overall, you get more bang for your buck with Greenlight, although if you’re not concerned about those added features, you can certainly get a lot of value from simply handling allowances and debit cards through GoHenry.

Investing

GoHenry doesn’t offer any investing options for kids, while Greenlight does. I honestly wish I’d started learning how investing works when I was ten years old (I definitely don’t recommend waiting until your thirties to do so).

Greenlight enables parents to approve every trade before your child makes it, and the account is SIPC-insured. SIPC insurance doesn’t cover investment losses, but it can protect you in the event that the company fails.

Identity theft and other protections

Again, Greenlight simply does more than GoHenry: you can access identity theft and phone protection with either the Max or Infinity plan. It’s definitely a nice feature to have and might make you feel more justified in paying the higher $9.98 or $14.98 per month.

Access to payment apps

Greenlight debit cards are compatible with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay, enabling more convenient payment options. Your child must be 13 or older to use Apple Pay or Google Pay with GoHenry.

With GoHenry, your child (aged 13 and older) may use Apple Pay, but Google Pay is not enabled. If Apple Pay is the only one of its type that your family uses, this may be perfectly fine.

Number of children on the account

Family size is a factor in choosing a children’s debit card. You can get debit cards for up to four children for $9.98 a month with GoHenry, or you can get debit cards for up to five children for $5.99 a month with Greenlight. If you’re a parent to more than five, you might need to open a separate account (maybe you’ll use both GoHenry and Greenlight).

Technically, you’ll save a little bit by choosing GoHenry if you only have one child. But for families with multiple children, Greenlight is the better value.

Which banking product should you choose?

When considering whether to use GoHenry vs. Greenlight or another similar product, think about your family’s needs and your preferences for how to manage your money. Since security and basic features are the same for both platforms, consider these main differences:

• Number of children: How many children do you have, and how many can you add to the account? (For me, with two kids, I’d pick Greenlight as you get up to five debit cards under the least-expensive plan.)
• Features: Decide if you want extra features besides the debit cards and financial education. In general, if you’re interested in added features, you’ll likely choose Greenlight, since it offers investing and identity theft protection and options to add interest to your child’s account.

In a nutshell, for simple debit cards and allowance payments, GoHenry is a solid choice, especially if you only have one child. For larger families that want more features, Greenlight is likely the more cost-effective option.

Another option might be to check with your bank to see whether it offers joint accounts for minors. You might be able to open a basic joint checking account with your teen. Many of the best banks offer these accounts at no charge and will issue your child a debit card. You can then use the bank’s app to monitor your child’s account, without paying a fee.

FAQs

Bottom line

Both GoHenry and Greenlight are excellent platforms that offer kids real-world experience in using a debit card to manage their money. In an increasingly cashless world, those skills will serve them well. I like both of the services, but you should think about what you’re looking to gain from the platform before selecting one.

Greenlight is a better value overall since you get up to five debit cards for $5.99 per month, whereas GoHenry charges $4.99 per child and $9.98 for up to four children. And if you’d like your child to earn interest on savings, cash back on purchases, and have access to investing, Greenlight is the way to go.