GoHenry has been around since 2012 and is on a mission to get kids to really understand how money works. With a child’s account, a parental account, and a Visa prepaid card, it gives you the tools needed to help kids take their first steps into finance.
Starling Kite is less concerned with full-on education, and more about providing a free option for kids to get their own card. Both are popular choices for parents on the hunt for banking apps for kids and teenangers, but which is better?
GoHenry is a prepaid debit card and educational app that helps your little ones get to grips with their money and spending. It’s aimed at those aged 6-18, while Starling Kite is a bit more restrictive with an age range of 6-15.
Your kid can customise their GoHenry prepaid Visa debit card, choosing from over 45 designs, but the Starling Kite card only comes in a turquoise and purple design.
Both apps let parents manage the money in their kids’ accounts, which is a fundamental aspect of most children’s banking apps. With GoHenry, parents can track their kids’ progress, set flexible boundaries and goals and get notifications in real time – so you’ll instantly know if the little rascals are using their version of the app to buy sweets after school, for instance.
Starling Kite is built into the parent’s app (while kids get their own version), allowing you to set limits and transfer money over. Again, you’ll be notified when they spend money.
Starling Kite is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which means your funds are covered up to £85,000 if the bank runs into trouble. GoHenry isn’t protected by the FSCS, but it keeps funds in ring-fenced account.
In our independent 2024 Customer Satisfaction Awards, GoHenry scored 4.5 out of 5, with 93% of participants saying they’d recommend it. Starling Kite won the Kids’ Card Customer Satisfaction award, earning 4.8 out of 5 and being recommended by 94% of people who took part.
Starling Kite is more pragmatic in that it allows up to 6 cards per household, but they’re not customisable. GoHenry has a slightly stricter cap of 4 cards, but with over 45 funky designs – though you do have to pay extra if you want a custom one. On the face of it, this isn’t at all important to parents. But if the aim of the game is to get kids interested, it’s worth thinking about going down the custom card route.
The maximum daily ATM withdrawal is £20 higher at GoHenry than Starling Kite. And finally, you can’t access Starling Kite through your desktop computer – but you can with GoHenry.
Winner: GoHenry wins this one for its customisable cards and desktop access.
Both GoHenry and Starling Kite give parents the lion’s share of control over the kids’ accounts, including notifications whenever something is purchased.
GoHenry lets you freeze the card. And parents can freeze Starling Kite in their app, too.
Education is a central focus of GoHenry, with “Money Missions” that are targeted at different age groups. The aim is to make money more interesting through stories, videos and quizzes and help kids become financially aware. The kids we’ve spoken with about these tools really love them – GoHenry’s worked hard to make them engaging and reward kids with fun GIFs for making progress in learning about managing their money.
Winner: GoHenry gets the win for its full suite of educational tools (which is a key part of what you’re paying for with GoHenry).
It’s common for kids’ banking apps to have some kind of monthly fee attached, as is the case with GoHenry. The cheapest tier account is £3.99 per month, plus a 50p loading fee – although you can load up for free once per month.
This is where Starling Kite pulls ahead, as there are almost no fees whatsoever. You’ll have to stump up a fiver if you lose the card, but that’s about it. There are no monthly fees, delivery fees or loading fees, making a compelling case for those of you who want to avoid any monthly bills. As is often the case, you’ll need a Starling adult account before you open a kid’s one but the money your child puts into the account will earn interest (at the same rate as your current account), which is another point of difference with GoHenry’s standard account, which doesn’t pay interest (there’s a more expensive Plus version which does).
Winner: No debate here, as Starling Kite wins it. After all, you can’t get cheaper than free.
Round 4: Customer reviews
On reviews site Trustpilot, GoHenry scores 4.1 out of 5 from over 10,000 reviews. There’s no specific score for Starling Kite, but Starling scores 4.3 out of 5 from over 41,500 reviews overall. We checked this in October 2024.
Customers like GoHenry’s financial education tools, though there were lots of reviews complaining about delays with having their money returned when they closed the account.
Starling received good reviews overall, but a number of customers said they had issues converting a Kite account to a current account once their child turned 16.
In our 2024 Customer Satisfaction Awards, GoHenry scored 4.5 out of 5, with 93% of respondents recommending the brand. By comparison, 94% of those surveyed said they would recommend Starling to a friend, with a rating of 4.8 out of 5.
Winner: Starling, because it has a better score by both measures.
Overall winner: Is GoHenry better than Starling?
This is a tough one. These are 2 of the best options for young people’s banking apps, and they’re both really popular. We were unable to split them.
GoHenry has fun, educational quizzes and videos, the ability to freeze and unfreeze your card, and the chance to customise the card itself. All of this combines to make the idea of a banking card and account much more engaging for children, which is surely one of the main aims here.
Starling Kite is also an excellent choice. Its biggest selling point over GoHenry is that it’s free, and this alone will be enough to sway many customers. And while kids won’t get the same educational tools as they’ll get with GoHenry, they’ll get interest on their money.
Kids' cards scores
★★★★★ — Excellent
★★★★★ — Good
★★★★★ — Average
★★★★★ — Subpar
★★★★★ — Poor
Finder scores, in blue, are based on our expert analysis. We also show reviews from users, where we've received more than 10, with a score in yellow. We gather more reviews from customers every year in Finder's customer satisfaction survey.
We show offers we can track - that's not every product on the market...yet. Unless we've said otherwise, products are in no particular order. The terms "best", "top", "cheap" (and variations of these) aren't ratings, though we always explain what's great about a product when we highlight it. This is subject to our terms of use. When you make major financial decisions, consider getting independent financial advice. Always consider your own circumstances when you compare products so you get what's right for you. Most of the data in Finder's comparison tables has the source: Moneyfacts Group PLC. In other cases, Finder has sourced data directly from providers.
Ricky Davies was a senior writer at Finder, focusing on banking and fintech. He previously wrote for Lloyds Banking Group, Halifax, and Royal Bank of Scotland. Additionally, he worked on content at LSEG, which is one of the world’s largest providers of financial markets data and infrastructure, and has created guides for several crypto sites. See full bio
Ricky's expertise
Ricky has written 13 Finder guides across topics including:
Jason is a writer and editor. He worked as a senior subeditor for Finder for 5 years and in that time became familiar with a wide range of financial products and services. Before that, he worked for Australian Associated Press. He has a BA from Macquarie University in Australia. Jason loves to help other people find new ways to save money. See full bio
Digital challenger bank Starling has launched a new children’s app for its Kite debit card. This prepaid card for kids comes with parental controls and can be managed from the parent’s banking app.
Rooster Money offers a colourful app to teach your kids about budgeting and makes a valid alternative to the traditional children’s current account.
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