Greenlight costs $5.99 per month for its most basic plan, and Current’s teen account is free to open and maintain. If you want a free debit card for your teen, Current might win you over, but Greenlight’s savings rewards, granular parental controls, educational content and extra safety features can make it worth the cheddar.
Greenlight |
Current teen banking |
|
| Finder score | 4.6★★★★★ | 4.8★★★★★ |
| Fee | $5.99 per month | $0 per month |
| Age requirements | Any age | Any age |
| Card purchase fee | $0 | $0 |
| ATM withdrawal | $0 | $0 |
| ATM out of network fee | $0 | $2.50 |
| Foreign ATM withdrawal fee | $0 | $3 |
| Greenlight | Current teen banking | |
|---|---|---|
| Free trial | Yes, 30-day free trial | No |
| Free reloads | Yes | Yes |
| Custom spending limits | Yes | Yes |
| Educational quizzes and game | Yes | No |
| Chore assignment and allowance tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Design custom debit card | Yes | No |
| Investing features | Yes | No |
| Credit building opportunities | Coming Soon | No |
| Savings rewards | Yes | No |
| Cashback rewards | Yes | No |
| $0 ATM withdrawals | Yes | Yes |
| Free replacement debit card | No | No |
Greenlight and Current are both mobile-only banking options. They’re also fintech companies, providing banking services and deposit insurance through their partner banks. While both have no specific age requirements, Current is specifically designed with teens in mind.
Current is free to open and maintain and doesn’t have any paid membership plans. Parents are required to open a regular Current account to monitor and open the kids’ account, but it’s also free.
Greenlight costs at least $5.99 per month for Greenlight Core, giving you up to five debit cards per plan. If you want more safety features, the price can reach $10.98 for Greenlight Max, $15.98 per month for Greenlight Infinity, or up to $24.98 per month for Family Shield. The higher-tier plans come with higher savings rewards, cash back, identity theft monitoring, priority customer support, family location sharing, identity theft coverage and much more.
If affordability is what you’re after, Current is the clear winner. However, if you don’t mind paying a little extra, Greenlight’s additional perks could make it worth the price.
Current has no monthly fees, and still has plenty of features. Although, it does require having a regular Current account to sponsor the teen account.
With Greenlight, you can’t avoid the monthly fee, which starts at $5.99 per month for the Core plan.
Greenlight has many more features than Current; the phrase “you get what you pay for” is really relevant here.
Just to name a few perks that Greenlight has that Current doesn’t:
Current and Greenlight both offer chore and allowance tracking, tools for saving, the ability to turn the card on or off, spending alerts, spending controls and free card reloads.
Greenlight offers multiple card reload options, including linking a bank account or debit card for manual or automatic transfers, direct deposit from employers (for ages 13+ only), and peer-to-peer (P2P) apps like Venmo.
Current’s reload options are similar to Greenlight, supporting reloads via linked bank account, the adult Current sponsor account, direct deposit, cash deposits at select retail locations, or Current Pay (in-app P2P service).
Both Greenlight and Current’s accounts are covered under FDIC insurance up to the typical amount of $250,000. In the unlikely event of a bank failure, funds are protected up to that amount.
When it comes to overall safety features, Greenlight has more to offer, especially with Greenlight Infinity for $14.98 per month. You’ll get things like cell phone coverage for up to five phones, identity theft monitoring, family location sharing, SOS button with 911 dispatch and car crash detection. With Family Shield, you get all those and more: identify theft protection up to $1 million, suspicious activity alerts, deceptive transfer fraud coverage and account monitoring.
Both come with parental controls, accept direct deposit and have multiple, free reload options.
But comparing features alone, Greenlight takes the win. You’ll get significantly more features than you would with Current, which includes financial games to teach your kid about money, an optional investing platform, granular spending controls, cash back and savings rewards.
Current comes out on top if you just need a no-frills, free teen banking option. It’s got plenty of mainstream perks to get the job done.
Greenlight is best for:
Current is best for:
There are many other kids’ banking options to choose from.
See how even more cards stack up:
You can open a checking account for your child, and it’s a pretty simple process.
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Modak has no monthly fee, but it’s slim on features. Greenlight starts at $5.99 but is a value for big families.
Modak is a no-frills, free debit card for kids and teens that comes with a virtual or physical card and the ability to set up direct deposit.
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