Acorns Early (formerly GoHenry) Review
- Maintenance Fees
- $5 monthly
- Age requirements
- 6 to 18 years old
Our verdict
Teaches kids financial literacy through expert-developed games and quizzes, plus chores, spending controls and custom cards.
Acorns Early (formerly GoHenry) can offer a way to get your kids a debit card and give them a boost in financial literacy. It offers interactive quizzes and videos as part of its in-app educational tool, called Money Missions, where kids can earn points and badges. The content is created by financial professionals and teachers based on national standards. Acorns Early also gives parents spending controls, alerts and chore tracking. The downside is that you have to pay more if you have more than one child, as the one-kid plan is $5 per month and two to four kids costs $10 per month.
Best for: Parents who want their kids to learn financial literacy through games and quizzes.
Pros
-
Expert-designed financial games
-
Parental spending controls
-
35+ card designs + customization
Cons
-
Charges extra for multiple kids
Get 2-month free trial plus $10 in allowance
Acorns Early in the news
Acorns, a digital banking app focused on investments, recently acquired GoHenry and renamed it Acorns Early. Acorns used to offer a different product called Acorns Early, but discontinued it and gave the name to GoHenry, as of November 2024.
Since the acquisition, Acorns is now offering customers the ability to get a free Acorns Early account if they have the Gold Acorns Checking account membership, which costs $12 per month.
That means you would get two accounts for the price of one. The Gold Acorns Checking account offers all the best perks you can get with the fintech, including an investing account for kids, $10,000 in life insurance, an Emergency Fund account and investable round-ups.
Who is Acorns Early best for?
Acorns Early is best for children between the ages of 6 and 18. It’s also for parents who want their kids to learn money management skills. The app comes with interactive financial literacy games and quizzes tailored by age and developed by teachers and financial experts.
But if you have multiple kids, Greenlight might be a better option. Greenlight’s most basic plan Core costs $5.99 per month, and it allows for up to five kids and has no age requirements.
Acorns Early plans and cost
Acorns Early offers a one-month free trial before charging a monthly cost based on how many kids are on the account. Its pricing is set at:
| Plan | Monthly cost | Number of kids allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $5 | 1 |
| Family | $10 | 4 |
What makes Acorns Early shine
Acorns Early accounts are FDIC insured up to $250,000. Acorns has multiple FDIC member bank partners: Lincoln Savings Bank, National Bank of Kansas City and Community Federal Savings Bank.
Acorns Early doesn’t charge for domestic or international ATMs withdrawals, or a foreign transaction fee, either. Your kid’s card should be accepted anywhere that accepts Mastercard, but some countries are blocked from transactions. While Acorns Early doesn’t charge for using out-of-network ATMs, an ATM operator fee may apply.
Gamified learning
Most kids’ debit cards offer financial lessons, but Acorns Early stands out with engaging videos, quizzes and articles designed for kids aged 6 to 14.
Kids complete missions to earn points and badges, making learning fun and interactive. These lessons follow K–12 Personal Finance Education National Standards, created by financial experts and teachers. Unlike many platforms that focus on text-heavy content, Acorns Early adds visuals and lessons for younger kids, setting it apart from competitors like Step.
Strong parental controls
Acorns Early dials in parental controls by giving the ability to set limits by the day, week and month. Parents can receive real-time spending notifications, set custom spending limits, lock or unlock savings, send money instantly, and like most kids’ cards, the card won’t work at stores that sell age-restricted items.
As the Acorns Early card is Mastercard, there’s also Zero Liability Protection, chip and PIN-protected transactions and bank-level encryption.
You’ll also get the automated allowance and chore tracking that you’d expect from a top-of-the-line kids’ banking app. Kids get paid for chores weekly, giving them time to complete their list and get rewarded for the chores they finish.
Plus, Acorns Early lets you add a second parent to get notifications and manage the chore lists. Every kids’ app is different in this area. Some don’t allow you to add another parent, while others, like Mazoola, let you customize different controls for each parent.
Custom cards
This is one of the only kids’ cards that offers customizable designs. Kids can choose from over 35 card designs, letting kids customize their name and favorite picture or pattern. The only other kids’ banking app that allows this, that we know of, is Greenlight.
In addition to its cards, the app doesn’t hold back on using bold colors, avatars, icons and progress bars for an eye-catching look. It keeps tools simplistic with bite-sized financial lessons and suggested goals for savings, helping kids use the app with ease.
Can make gifting money easier
With Acorns Early “Giftlinks,” friends and family can send money straight to the Acorns Early account. You can share the Giftlinks to anyone who wants to send money for gifts. There’s no fee for the gifter or kid to use this feature, either.
There are also “Relative accounts” options, letting parents add an Acorns Early Relative so they can send cash to the kid’s account whenever they’d like.
Where it falls short
Acorns Early’s pricing structure is its biggest downfall. It starts out at $5 per month for one child, which is comparable to other kids’ debit cards. But you’ll pay $10 a month to move to the family plan, which includes cards for up to four kids. Other competitors grant four to five cards on their standard plans at a minimum.
Compare Acorns Early with other debit cards for kids
Narrow down debit cards for kids by monthly fee and features.
Acorns Early’s customer experience
Most customers have a five-star experience with Acorns Early based on app and user reviews. Happy customers like the app’s wealth of features and are thrilled to see their kids successfully learning about finances.
Yet multiple people have said they deal with glitches, like the app not paying allowance, especially with the Android app, which may contribute to the lower customer rating there. A few customers mention that you’re required to set up an automatic weekly allowance. However, we verified with customer support that parents can set the allowance to $0 if they don’t want to use the automated allowance.
How to contact customer support
If you have questions about Acorns Early or your account, contact a representative in the following ways.
- Call 1-855-739-2859 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET seven days a week.
- Visit Acorns Early’s website to chat with a representative seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET.
- Send an email to help@acornsearly.com.
- Connect with Acorns Early on X (formerlyTwitter), Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
- Send mail to 54 W 40th St, New York, NY 10018.
How do Acorns Early’s fees compare to the competition?
Here’s how Acorns Early’s fees and limits compare to other leading prepaid cards for kids.
| Acorns Early’s fee and limits | Amount | How it compares to other kids’ cards |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly membership fee | $5 for one child $10 for a family of up to four kids | This is higher than most competitor plans that come with four or five cards for around $5 per month. |
| Overdrafts | $0 | Average since most kids’ cards don’t charge for overdrafts |
| ATM withdrawal | $0 | Below average |
| Card purchase (customized) | $4.99 | Average |
| Card replacement (same design) | No fee | Lower |
| Card replacement (different design) | $0 | Average |
| Maximum balance across all cards | $6,000 | Below average |
| Minimum load per transaction | $2.00 | Average |
| Maximum load per transaction | $500 | Average |
| Value of purchases allowed per day | $2,500 | Average |
| Value of ATM withdrawals allowed per day | $120 | Below average |
I got my Acorns Early card. Now what?
Once your child has their card in hand, set up, pay and manage your account:
- Download the app. Get the mobile app for Android or iOS and start managing your account.
- Share access. Add your spouse or another guardian as a co-manager on the account.
- Establish a weekly allowance. Set up a weekly allowance or tasks with an attached value to get funds sent to your child’s card automatically from your primary account.
- Set spending limits and goals. Establish savings goals, weekly limits and one-time exemptions as needed by visiting the Rules section of your parent account.
- Activate your child’s debit card. Activate your kid’s card using your account. Once it’s activated, you’ll receive your child’s username and password along with their PIN.
- Keep the monthly fee in mind. If there aren’t enough funds in your primary account to cover the monthly fee, Acorns Early will pull from the attached debit card.
- Contact support. Use the FAQ on the Acorns Early website or talk to live support via phone, email or live chat weekly from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET.
Kids’ debit card ratings
★★★★★ — Excellent
★★★★★ — Good
★★★★★ — Average
★★★★★ — Subpar
★★★★★ — Poor
We analyze top debit cards for kids and rate them one to five stars based on factors that are most important to you. We rate kids’ checking accounts by these factors: Monthly fee, features, ATM access, customer support options, and availability. We also consider APY as a factor only for those that earn interest. We rate prepaid debit cards for kids by these factors: monthly fees, features, customer support options and account availability.
Read the full methodology of how we rate Kids’ debit card accounts.
Bethany Finder
Editor, Banking
Hi there, looking for more information? Ask us a question.
You are about to post a question on finder.com:
- Do not enter personal information (eg. surname, phone number, bank details) as your question will be made public
- finder.com is a financial comparison and information service, not a bank or product provider
- We cannot provide you with personal advice or recommendations
- Your answer might already be waiting – check previous questions below to see if yours has already been asked
Finder only provides general advice and factual information, so consider your own circumstances, or seek advice before you decide to act on our content. By submitting a question, you're accepting our finder.com Terms of Use and Privacy and Cookies Policy.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
