Sprout Saver vs Greenlight:
a pre-card money system for kids 6–16

Greenlight starts at $5.99/month for the Core plan and climbs to $14.98/month for Infinity. The fee covers up to 5 kids and 2 adults, so a family with three kids pays around $2/kid/month on Core — but you're paying it forever. There's no free tier.

Sprout Saver's free tier covers two kids with the full core feature set — allowance, chores, goals, Vault, jars, basic lessons, basic avatars — for $0. Pro is $4.99/month or $47.88/year (about $3.99/month annualized — a 20% discount on the annual plan) and lifts the kid limit, unlocks the full 300+ lesson library, adds tiered savings rates and traditional compounding, advanced analytics, and premium cosmetics. There's a 14-day Pro trial, no credit card required.

Greenlight has no minimum age, but the average user is 8–14. The product is built around a card, and the card only really works once a child has somewhere to spend it.

Sprout Saver explicitly supports ages 6–16, with the strongest fit at 8–13 — the habit-forming years. The product is designed to graduate kids: by around 16, many families step up to a real card (Greenlight included). Sprout Saver's job is to make that graduation safer.

Greenlight uses real money. Every transaction is a real charge against a real Visa or Mastercard. That's its core value proposition — and also its core risk. A kid can still tap-and-go a $40 game skin before a parent gets the notification.

Sprout Saver is a virtual family bank. No real money moves through the app. When a kid wants to actually spend something, parents fulfill the payout offline — cash, transfer, gift card, whatever fits — and the app records the request, the approval, and the payout so nothing slips between "promised" and "paid." Mistakes inside the app are lessons, not losses.

Greenlight includes financial-literacy content inside the app and runs in-app games and lessons. The content is solid; it isn't the headline.

Sprout Saver leads with learning. 300+ interactive lessons span 11 categories (Basics, Earning, Saving, Spending, Budgeting, Investing, Giving, Banking, Credit & Debt, Planning, Mindset) and 3 age bands (6–8, 9–12, 13–16). Lessons sit inside the same environment where money is earned, sorted, and saved — so what a kid learns in a lesson on delayed gratification, they immediately practice when they lock money in a Vault.

Greenlight offers savings rewards — currently 2% on Core, 3% on Max, 5% on Infinity (paid by Greenlight, not a bank). Solid feature, but the money isn't locked; kids can move it freely.

Sprout Saver's Vault is a commitment device. A kid chooses to lock money for a set time (or until a goal is reached). They earn Saver Stars for the wait — more stars for longer locks and bigger amounts. Early release requires a parent approval and forfeits the stars. Research on child development consistently identifies planning, self-control, and waiting for future rewards as the foundation of strong financial habits — Vault is built for exactly that practice.

Both apps give parents strong control. Greenlight lets you set spending limits, block categories, and lock the card. Sprout Saver requires parent approval for every withdrawal (every real-world payout), every Vault early release, every donation, and every chore-completion payment. Sprout Saver's Inbox pulls all of these into one stream so nothing gets lost.