What are the best budgeting apps for kids?

The best budgeting apps for kids are Acorns Early, BusyKid, FamZoo, and Greenlight. These apps are designed specifically to help kids learn basic budgeting skills, such as tracking expenses and setting up savings goals, through hands-on experience. These apps also have special parental controls, which allow parents to set their child’s allowance and spending limits.

Best Budgeting Apps for Kids

Acorns Early

Acorns Early gives kids the opportunity to develop their budgeting skills by teaching them how to create budgets and track their spending. The app also encourages kids to save money for the future by letting them make and plan out savings goals with target dates.

Parents are kept in the loop about their child’s finances since they’ll get notifications about purchases, they can set spending limits, and they can lock savings goals. This prevents kids from withdrawing their savings before they reach their goal.

• Unique features: Age-appropriate videos and quizzes to teach budgeting and saving, and parents can lock and unlock savings goals
• Cost: $5 per month for 1 kid, $10 per month for 2-4 kids

BusyKid

BusyKid teaches kids how to split their allowance into save, share, and spend categories. Parents can set up automatic allowance payments, track their kid’s transactions, and match what their child saves each week to help them build savings.

• Unique features: Encourages kids to donate, with the ability to connect to charities within the app, and parents can match what their child saves each week
• Cost: $48 per year

FamZoo

FamZoo teaches kids how to budget using the envelope budgeting method, allowing them to separate funds into multiple purpose-driven accounts. Kids can also track and categorize expenses, set savings goals and monitor their progress toward those goals using the app.

Parents can set up automatic allowance payments, collaborate with their child to create budgets, and get alerts about transactions and the remaining balance on their child’s account.

• Unique features: Encourages using the envelope budgeting method, and parents can schedule chores for rewards
• Cost: $5.99 per month or $59.90 per year

Greenlight

Greenlight lets kids learn how to track spending, set savings goals, and follow their progress toward those goals. With the app, parents can automate allowance payments and track their kid’s spending. Greenlight also has a financial education game and podcast that helps kids understand important money concepts, such as budgeting and saving for the future.

• Unique features: Financial literacy game with rewards and a podcast to explain various financial topics
• Cost: $5.99-$14.98 per month, depending on the plan

Using an app can help your kid learn how to manage their money now and in the future. For more options for the whole family, check out WalletHub’s picks for the best budget apps.