This spending app uses games and quizzes to teach kids about finances. Acorns Early (previously GoHenry) Canada doesn't yet exist, but there are alternatives.
Acorns Early (previously GoHenry in the US) is the kids money management app of choice for many parents in the US and UK. Find out if you can use Acorns Early in Canada, and check out Acorns Early Canada alternatives.
Must read: GoHenry (US) is now Acorns Early
US fintech company Acorns acquired GoHenry in April 2023, renaming it Acorns Early in the US but keeping the name GoHenry in the UK. All the app’s spending, earning, saving and learning features remain the same, and the app is still available for both Apple and Android users in the US.
What is Acorns Early?
Acorns Early (formerly GoHenry) is a debit card and spending app that teaches kids financial literacy using expert-designed games and quizzes. Kids follow videos, interactive lessons and quizzes to complete missions and earn experience points and badges. Content is created by financial professionals and teachers following US educational guidelines.
The Acorns Early debit card can be used to pay for purchases. Parents can transfer funds onto the card and control where and how much kids spend. It costs $5 USD per month for 1 user or $10 USD per month for up to 4 kids.
Is Acorns Early (previously GoHenry) in Canada?
Unfortunately, Acorns Early is not available in Canada, although card holders can pay for purchases in Canada with a Acorns Early card. To use Acorns Early, you must live in the US, and to use GoHenry, you must live in the UK. As of the time of writing, Acorns Early has not announced plans to begin offering the kids debit card in Canada.
Compare Acorns Early Canada alternatives for kids
Looking for an alternative to the Acorns Early card in Canada? Check out the following money management apps and accounts for kids.
MyDoh offers a kids prepaid card that can be used to make online and in-store purchases. The MyDoh app can be used to transfer money, view account balances and see transactions. Up to five children can be added to an account, which costs $0 per month.
Parents set up and monitor the account
Helps keep track of tasks and chores
Dedicated Visa Debit card for your kid
Backed by RBC, a major Canadian bank
30-day free trial (for new subscribers)
Kids cannot deposit cheques or cash into their Mydoh account
Get $150 from Finder Open a BMO Performance Chequing Account through Finder by 14 Aug 2025. T&Cs apply.
Under the family bundle, you can select a primary account and an account holder, which must be an adult, and then select and set up a separate bank account for your teen. Not only does your teen pay no monthly fees, but they get unlimited no-fee daily banking, including Interac e-Transfers. If you open a new account and meet certain requirements, your family gets a welcome bonus worth $750.
No monthly fee for your teen
Parent pays only one account fee per month
Each account is separate and private
Unlimited monthly transactions, including Interac e-Transfers
Parents get a $40 rebate on a BMO Mastercard annual fee
Attach a no-fee BMO savings account and earn 4.75% on all deposits
One free non-BMO ATM withdrawal per month
Free teen debit card
OnGuard Identity Theft Protection at no charge
Must keep a $4,000 minimum balance to waive monthly fee
Earn 0% on account balances
Parent must be a BMO bank account holder
$5 fee each for overdraft protection, international ATM withdrawals and global money transfers
The CIBC Smart Start kids account comes with free transactions and Interac e-Transfers. Along with a debit card to make purchases, account holders get discounts at hundreds of stores and restaurants with a free Student Price Card (SPC+) membership.
No monthly fee
Comes with a debit card for your child
Free, unlimited transactions and Interac e-Transfers
Earn on savings account balance
Teens 13+ can open an account without a parent
Discounts on food, fashion and entertainment through the free SPC+ membership for teens 14+
BONUS OFFER: Get a $100 Skip gift card and $125 cash. Offer ends June 23, 2025. T&Cs apply.
$2 fee for non-CIBC ATM transactions
Kids under 14 must have a parent or guardian to open an account
Acorns Early offers a 30-day free trial, after which, a monthly fee applies based on how many kids are on the account. Here’s its pricing:
Plan
Monthly cost
Number of kids
Basic
$5 USD
1
Family
$10 USD
4
What makes Acorns Early shine
Acorns Early (previously GoHenry) features a suite of money management tools designed for kids and teens, but its gamified financial learning is the tool that deserves the spotlight.
Financial literacy
Every kids debit card includes some kind of financial blog or learning content, but Acorns Early stands our for its nicely designed lessons in the form of videos, quizzes and bite-sized articles. Each lesson caters to your child’s age from six to 18 years old.
Kids set out to complete each video or quiz “mission,” earning points and badges as they move through the game’s levels. The missions aren’t just created by marketers—they’re designed by financial experts and teachers to follow US K–12 Personal Finance Education National Standards.
Typically, kids’ banking platforms turn out articles without using many visuals. And while some competitors, like Step, cater to teens, not all include lessons for younger kids the way Acorns Early does.
Parental controls
Parents get automated allowance and chore-funding features offered by similar kids banking apps in the US. Kids get paid for chores weekly, giving them time to complete their list and get rewarded for the chores they finished.
Yet Acorns Early dials in parental controls by giving the ability to set limits by the day, week and month. Then, parents can toggle on the limits for in-store or online purchases and ATM withdrawals. It’s one of the only US kids’ banking apps that grants such tight parental controls, with Greenlight as its rival offering store- and category-level controls.
Plus, a second parent can be added to Acorns Early accounts to get notifications and manage chore lists. Every kids’ app is different in this area. Some don’t allow you to add another parent, while others let you customize different controls for each parent.
Design
This is one of the only kids’ cards that offers customizable designs. Kids can choose from over 35 card designs, letting them customize their name and favorite picture or pattern. Greenlight rivals this level of customization, but not many other apps do.
In addition to its cards, the app doesn’t hold back on using bold colour, 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.
Where Acorns Early falls short
Acorns Early’s pricing structure is its biggest downfall. It starts out at $5 USD per month for one child, which is comparable to other US kids’ debit cards. But it costs $10 USD a month to move to the family plan, which includes cards for up to 4 kids. Other competitors grant 4 to 5 cards on their standard plans for around $5 USD a month.
A co-parent can be added to the account and will be able to top up the parent account, but only with the card registered on the account.
Acorns Early’s customer experience
Many customers have had 5-star experiences with Acorns Early based on app and user reviews. Happy customers like the app’s design and wealth of features, and they’re thrilled to see their kids successfully learning about finances.
Yet multiple people have said that they have encountered glitches like the debit card not working and issues transferring funds back from childrens’ accounts.
A few customers mention the requirement of setting up a weekly automatic allowance. However, our staff once verified with customer support that parents can set the allowance to $0 USD if they don’t want to use the automated allowance.
How to contact customer support
Acorns Early customer service can be contacted by phone Monday through Friday from 9:00am to 8:00pm EST and Saturday through Sunday from 9:00am to 5:00pm EST. Account holders can also reach Acorns Early via email or online support form. Parent company Acorns has accounts on Instagram, X (Twitter), Facebook, YouTube and TikTok.
Is Acorns Early safe?
Acorns Early (previously GoHenry) takes care to spell out exactly how it protects personal information using encryption credit card numbers and sensitive personal information. While it doesn’t sell your information, Acorns Early shares necessary details with business partners or service providers like analytics and support sites to offer and improve its features.
Its privacy policy explains that Acorns Early does not collect, use, or disclose the personal information of children under 13 without their parents’ consent. “Limit Ad Tracking” is enabled on Child Accounts by default, preventing children from receiving targeted advertising.
Kids’ funds are insured by the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) up to $250,000 USD through Community Federal Savings Bank.
Acorns Early’s ATM network and fees
Children can withdraw cash from any ATM with no fee for domestic or international ATMs. However, they may pay a fee charged by the ATM provider, and parents have the option of turning off ATM usage for their child’s card.
What countries can you use Acorns Early in?
The Acorns Early card can be used anywhere in the world that Mastercard is accepted. But, as with most cards, the following countries are blocked from transactions:
Belarus
Central African Republic
CONGO (was Zaire)
Cote d’Ivoire
Cuba
Iran
Iraq
Libya
Mali
North Korea
Russia
Serbia
Somalia
Sudan
Syria
Tunisia
Ukraine
Venezuela
Yemen
How to get started with a Acorns Early card
Here’s how to set up, pay and manage a Acorns Early (formerly GoHenry) account after receiving a card:
Download the app. Get the mobile app for Android or iOS to get account access.
Share access. Add a spouse or another guardian as a co-manager on the account.
Set up a scheduled or chores-based allowance. Set up a weekly allowance or tasks with an attached value to get funds sent to the card automatically from the primary account.
Set spending limits and goals. Establish savings goals, weekly limits and one-time exemptions as needed by visiting the Rules section of the parent account.
Activate your child’s debit card. Activate the Acorns Early card on the app to receive the child’s username, password and PIN.
Keep the monthly fee in mind. If there aren’t enough funds in the 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 support via phone, email or online contact form.
Acorns Early Canada FAQs
Yes, in 2023, US fintech company Acorns acquired GoHenry, renaming it Acorns Early in the US and keeping all the app's original features. It also acquired the GoHenry app in the UK, but the name remains the same.
No, you can't use Acorns Early in Canada because Acorns Early is currently not available in Canada. In fact, we don't yet know if or when Acorns Early plans to launch in Canada, but there are some kids financial apps, such as the RBC Mydoh app.
Acorns Early is a debit card and spending app in the US and UK that teaches kids about financial literacy using games and quizzes designed by educators. With Acorns Early, kids can watch videos, complete interactive lessons, quizzes and "missions" to earn rewards.
Content is currently created by financial professionals and teachers following US educational guidelines. Kids can use the Acorns Early debit card for purchases, with funds transfered by parents, who can also control where and how much kids spend their money.
Rhys Subitch is a personal finance editor at Bankrate and former loans editor at Finder, specializing in consumer and business lending. Rhys has nearly a decade of experience researching, editing, and writing for startups, Fortune 500 companies, universities and websites. They hold a BA in sociology and a certificate of editing from the University of Washington. See full bio
Rhys's expertise
Rhys has written 7 Finder guides across topics including:
Sarah George is Staff Writer for Small Business Loans at BankRate and formally a personal finance writer at Finder focusing on all things banking and insurance. Her know-how has been featured in such publications as CBS, CNET and Reviews.com, and she was a panelist in Finder’s 2020 money-saving webinar. Sarah earned an English education degree and is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance. See full bio
Sarah's expertise
Sarah has written 4 Finder guides across topics including:
Kids’ debit cards give you a safe, controlled way to increase your child’s financial knowledge and teach real-life money skills.
Advertiser disclosure
Finder.com is an independent comparison platform and information service that aims to provide you with the tools you need to make better decisions. While we are independent, the offers that appear on this site are from companies from which Finder receives compensation. We may receive compensation from our partners for placement of their products or services. We may also receive compensation if you click on certain links posted on our site. While compensation arrangements may affect the order, position or placement of product information, it doesn't influence our assessment of those products. Please don't interpret the order in which products appear on our Site as any endorsement or recommendation from us. Finder compares a wide range of products, providers and services but we don't provide information on all available products, providers or services. Please appreciate that there may be other options available to you than the products, providers or services covered by our service.
We update our data regularly, but information can change between updates. Confirm details with the provider you're interested in before making a decision.
How likely would you be to recommend Finder to a friend or colleague?
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Very UnlikelyExtremely Likely
Required
Thank you for your feedback.
Our goal is to create the best possible product, and your thoughts, ideas and suggestions play a major role in helping us identify opportunities to improve.