Family Chore App: A Board That Pays Your Kids
A family chore app assigns household chores to family members and tracks who did what. Chore-List is a free family chore app built like a Trello board - one list per person with their photo and balance, a dollar value on every chore, and instant credit the moment work is done.
What makes a chore app different from a calendar or a bank?
Most “family organizer” tools are one of three things: a calendar (Cozi, Skylight) that tracks time, a banking app (Greenlight, BusyKid) that sells a kids’ debit card with chores attached, or a simple checklist. A chore app like Chore-List tracks work and earnings: chores are priced, completion pays instantly, and the balance is a ledger your kids spend in a rewards store you control - no card, no bank account, no subscription.
| Chore-List | Cozi | OurHome | Greenlight | Sweepy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free / $39-79/yr | Discontinued | $5.99/mo+ | Free / $19.99/yr |
| Chores pay dollars | Yes, instantly | No | Points (historical) | Yes, via debit card | No |
| Per-person board | Yes - photo + balance | Lists only | Yes (historical) | No | By room |
| Open chore pool | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Wall / kiosk display | Any tablet or TV | No | No | No | No |
| Photo proof | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| API / AI assistant access | REST + MCP | No | No | No | No |
Competitor details from the vendors’ published pages, October 2026. OurHome was unpublished from Google Play in 2023 - see the OurHome alternative page.
How Chore-List works
- Create your family. Sign up free and add each family member with a role - adults are admins, kids work the board.
- Add chores and rewards. Price any chore, set due times and reminders, make it recur daily, weekly, or monthly. Set rewards with a cost, a frequency, and a stock limit.
- Kids work the board. They complete their chores (with a photo if they like), claim extra jobs from the Open Chores pool, watch their balance grow, and redeem rewards. You get an email for every completion and redemption.
Frequently asked questions
Is Chore-List really free?
Yes. Chore-List is free for families while in beta - the board, recurring chores, rewards, kiosk mode, and the API are all included, with no subscription tier and no hardware to buy.
Do kids need their own phone or email?
Kids get their own login so their completions and claims are theirs - an email address is enough. For younger kids, the kitchen kiosk needs no login at all: they just tap their chores done on the shared screen.
What ages is a chore app right for?
Families typically start around ages 5-7 with simple, photo-friendly chores and add priced, recurring chores as kids grow. Pre-readers navigate by the photo at the top of their list; teens respond to real dollar balances and bigger recurring jobs.
Can a chore require parent approval before it pays?
Yes - if you want it to. Two family settings let adults approve a kid’s completion before it credits, and approve a redemption before it charges the balance. Both are off by default, so the default flow is instant credit.
Is the money real?
Balances are a ledger inside your family, not a bank account - you are the bank. That is deliberate: kids learn earning, saving, and spending with real stakes you control, without a debit card or a monthly fee. See how paid chores work.
Putting the board on a wall? Start with the Skylight Calendar alternative or the digital chore chart guide.
Set up your family’s board in about a minute.
Free for families. No credit card, no hardware, no app store.
Last updated October 15, 2026.