Greenlight Alternative: Chores and Allowance Without the Debit Card
Greenlight is a kids’ debit card with chores attached - $5.99 a month and up. Chore-List is a Greenlight alternative for families who want the earning system without the card: priced chores, instant dollar balances, and a rewards store, free, with nothing for a seven-year-old to lose at school.
What Greenlight charges
Greenlight’s published plans (greenlight.com, October 2026): Core at $5.99/month, Max at $10.98/month, Infinity at $15.98/month, and Family Shield at $19.98/month - $71.88 to $239.76 a year, per family, before a single chore gets done. In return you get a real Mastercard debit card for each child, parent controls, and - on paid tiers - savings rewards and investing. The chores live inside that banking product.
| Greenlight | Chore-List | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $5.99-$19.98/mo | Free |
| What kids hold | A debit card | A dollar balance on the family board |
| Chore board | Task list inside the banking app | Per-person board with photo + balance |
| Open chore pool | No | Yes - claimable extra jobs |
| Wall display | No | Kiosk mode on any tablet |
| Photo proof & approvals | Partial (chore check-off) | Photo on completion; optional approval before credit |
| Spend anywhere | Yes - it’s a real card | In your family’s rewards store; you settle cash-outs |
| Savings interest & investing | Yes, on paid tiers | No |
| API / AI assistants | No | REST + MCP included |
When Greenlight is the right call
Honestly: a teenager with a job, a bus pass, and lunch money to manage is well served by a real card with real controls, and Greenlight’s savings and investing tiers teach things a ledger can’t. Chore-List fits the years before that - and the household economy alongside it: earning visibly at home, on a board everyone can see, with no monthly fee and no card to replace when it vanishes.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free Greenlight alternative for chores and allowance?
Yes - Chore-List. Chores carry dollar prices, completion credits the child’s balance instantly, and balances are tracked in a full ledger and spent in a rewards store you price. It is free for families while in beta.
How do kids spend money without a card?
In the rewards store: screen time, a movie night, a toy - rewards you create with prices, frequencies, and stock limits. Many parents also settle balances in cash weekly, which keeps the ledger honest and the lesson concrete.
What ages suit a ledger better than a debit card?
Roughly the under-12 years: kids who earn and spend at home, who would lose a card, and for whom a visible balance on the family board teaches more than a balance hidden in a banking app.
Can I move to a card app later?
Any time - the habits transfer. Kids who have watched a balance grow and spent deliberately in a rewards store are exactly the kids who handle a first debit card well.
Does Chore-List need a bank account or SSN?
No. There is no bank account, no card, and no financial product at all - just your family’s board and its ledger.
See also: a chore app that pays and the BusyKid alternative.
The earning system, without the $5.99/month card.
Free for families - set up your board in about a minute.
Last updated October 15, 2026.