Best Kids Savings App UK: Who Pays Interest, Who Charges

Picking the best kids savings app in the UK comes down to one question most comparison pages skip: does the app pay your child interest, or does it charge you a subscription to hold their money? The pocket money apps that dominate the adverts are mostly spending cards with a savings goal drawn on top. The apps that actually grow a child’s balance are the ones backed by a bank, and two of the best are free.

This page ranks the main options on what the money earns, what it costs to hold, and what happens to it if the provider fails. Rates below were checked against each provider’s own summary box in September 2026. They are variable unless stated, so confirm the live figure before you move money.

The short answer

• Best free option that pays interest: Monzo Under 16s. Free account, instant access savings at 2.75% AER (variable), up to £10,000, FSCS protected.
• Best rate if you already pay for Revolut: Revolut Kids & Teens Savings, 2.9% AER on the free plan rising to 4% AER on Ultra, capped at £3,500.
• Best for pocket money habits, not interest: GoHenry or NatWest Rooster Money, both built around chores, goals and a debit card.
• Best for money you will not touch for a year: Halifax Kids’ Monthly Saver, a 5.50% AER fixed regular saver you run from the Halifax app.
• Best for long-term money: a Junior ISA, which escapes the £100 parental tax rule entirely.

How the main kids savings apps compare

Monzo Under 16s: the free account that actually earns

Monzo opened its Under 16s account to children aged 6 to 15, and the savings side is the reason it tops this list. The child gets instant access savings at 2.75% AER (variable), calculated daily and paid monthly, with a ceiling of £10,000 per child. The parent needs a Monzo current account first, then opens the Under 16s account from it, then adds the savings account.

The detail parents should read twice is ownership. Monzo’s help pages state that the primary parent or guardian legally owns the money in the Under 16s account, and that any interest normally counts towards the parent’s Personal Savings Allowance. In practice that means Monzo treats the interest as yours from the first penny, so the £100 rule further down this page does not come into it. For most families with a few hundred pounds of birthday money, the parent’s allowance swallows the interest without any tax to pay. Our Monzo review covers the adult account the child’s one hangs off.

Revolut Kids & Teens: the highest rate, if you pay for it

Revolut’s Kids & Teens Savings account is held with ClearBank and pays a rate tied to the parent’s subscription:

• Standard and Plus: 2.9% AER (variable)
• Premium: 3.25% AER (variable)
• Metal: 3.4% AER (variable)
• Ultra: 4% AER (variable)

Interest is calculated on the end-of-day balance and paid the next day, gross. The account is for children aged 6 to 15 (teens of 13 and over can start the sign-up themselves with a parent’s approval), and the maximum balance is £3,500.

On the free Standard plan it already beats Monzo by 0.15 percentage points, which on a few hundred pounds is pennies. The higher tiers only make sense if you already pay for Premium, Metal or Ultra for your own reasons: upgrading just to lift the rate on a balance capped at £3,500 will almost always cost more than it earns. Note too that because the money sits at ClearBank, the FSCS limit is shared with anything else you hold there through Revolut or any other app that uses ClearBank. Our piece on whether digital banks are safe explains how that pooling works.

GoHenry: learning tools first, interest on the paid plans

GoHenry is still GoHenry in the UK, even though its US arm became Acorns Early. It has three plans, Everyday, Plus and Max, and each carries a monthly fee. Interest on savings goals, currently 2.63% AER, is only on the Plus and Max plans, so on the entry plan the child’s savings earn nothing. GoHenry also lets a parent pay their own interest on the child’s savings, and it offers a Junior Stocks and Shares ISA from the same app.

What you pay for is the rest of the app: chore lists, instant pocket money transfers, Giftlinks so grandparents can send money directly, and over 100 short Money Missions that teach budgeting. That is a fair trade if the goal is the habit. It is a poor trade if the goal is the balance, because a subscription taken every month will outpace 2.63% on any pocket money sum. GoHenry states plainly that it is a kids’ money app and debit card, not a bank, so its balances are not covered by the FSCS the way a bank deposit is.

NatWest Rooster Money: best for chores and goals

Rooster Money, owned by NatWest, gives children Spend, Save and Give pots, chore tracking, goals and a prepaid Visa card. It is free for NatWest customers and charged by subscription otherwise. There is no interest on the card balance. For a seven-year-old whose savings are a target for a Lego set, that does not matter much; for a teenager with a job, it does.

Starling Under 16s and HyperJar: free spending cards

Starling’s children’s card, which used to be called Kite, now sits as a Space inside a Starling parent’s personal or joint account, for children aged 6 to 16. It is free, with no charges for spending or withdrawing abroad, and the money counts towards the parent’s FSCS protection because it is the parent’s account. Starling does not advertise a separate children’s savings rate for it, so treat it as a spending card with good controls rather than a savings product. The Starling Bank review covers the parent account it depends on.

HyperJar’s kids card is free for ages 6 to 17, organises money into jars, and cannot be used at cash machines. It pays no interest. It suits families who want a free card and a visual budget, not a savings rate.

The best non-app option: a regular saver run from an app

If the money can be locked away for a year, the rates above are not the best available. The Halifax Kids’ Monthly Saver pays 5.50% AER fixed for 12 months on deposits of £10 to £100 a month by standing order. It is opened by a parent or guardian with a Halifax account, for a child aged 15 or under, and managed in the Halifax app. You cannot withdraw during the term without closing it.

Halifax’s own summary box puts the result in proportion: £100 a month for 12 months finishes at £1,233, so the fixed 5.50% earns £33 in the year because each deposit only earns from the month it arrives. After 12 months the money moves to the Kids’ Saver, which pays 2.25% AER variable on the first £5,000 and 0.75% above that. That later rate is below Monzo and Revolut, so plan to move it on at maturity.

The £100 rule that catches parents out

HMRC has a rule aimed at parents who park their own savings in a child’s name. According to GOV.UK’s page on children’s savings, you must tell HMRC if, in a tax year, a child gets more than £100 in interest from money given by a parent. If it does go over, all of that interest, not just the excess, is taxed as the parent’s savings income where it exceeds the parent’s own allowance. The limit is £100 per parent, so £200 if both parents contribute.

Two exceptions matter. Money from grandparents, other relatives and friends does not count towards the £100. And interest or growth inside a Junior ISA or Child Trust Fund is outside the rule altogether.

The numbers show where it bites. At 2.9% on Revolut’s free plan, a full £3,500 pot earns about £101.50 a year, just over the line if you funded it. At 4% on Ultra the same pot earns £140. At Monzo’s 2.75%, a parent-funded balance would need to reach roughly £3,640 before it produced £100. Our guide to savings app interest and tax works through the Personal Savings Allowance itself.

When a Junior ISA is the better home

Once a child’s savings run into four figures and are not needed before adulthood, a Junior ISA does the job better than any of the apps above. The allowance is £9,000 for the 2026 to 2027 tax year, according to GOV.UK’s Junior ISA page. The child can take control of the account at 16 but cannot withdraw until 18, which is a feature if the point is university or a first deposit.

Cash Junior ISAs sit alongside the adult options in our best cash ISA apps roundup. For a horizon of ten years or more, a stocks and shares Junior ISA has historically done better than cash, at the cost of the value falling as well as rising; our best stocks and shares ISA apps page covers the platforms. GoHenry’s in-app Junior ISA is one route, but compare its charges against a standalone provider before choosing it for convenience.

How to choose in two minutes

1. Already bank with Monzo? Open Under 16s and its savings account. It is free and it pays.
2. Already on a paid Revolut plan? Use Kids & Teens Savings for the higher rate, and keep an eye on the £3,500 cap and the £100 rule.
3. Want chores, goals and a card more than a rate? GoHenry, or Rooster Money if you bank with NatWest and want it free.
4. Saving a fixed monthly amount for a year? The Halifax Kids’ Monthly Saver, then move the money at maturity.
5. Saving for 18? A Junior ISA.

For the adult versions of the same trade-off, see our roundup of the best savings apps in the UK.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best kids savings app in the UK that is free? Monzo Under 16s is the strongest free option because it pays interest: 2.75% AER (variable) on up to £10,000, with no fee, for children aged 6 to 15. Revolut Kids & Teens also pays 2.9% AER on its free Standard plan, but caps the balance at £3,500.

Do GoHenry savings earn interest? Only on the Plus and Max plans, which pay 2.63% AER on savings goals. The entry Everyday plan pays no interest. Every GoHenry plan carries a monthly fee, so on small balances the fee usually outweighs the interest.

Is my child’s money protected if the app goes bust? It depends on who holds it. Monzo, Starling and Halifax are banks, and Revolut’s kids savings sit at ClearBank, so eligible deposits are covered by the FSCS up to £120,000 per person per bank. GoHenry states it is not a bank, so its balances do not have that bank-deposit cover.

Do I pay tax on interest in my child’s savings account? Only if the money came from a parent and earns more than £100 of interest in a tax year, in which case all of it is taxed as the parent’s income where it exceeds the parent’s allowance. Gifts from grandparents and money in a Junior ISA are exempt. Monzo treats Under 16s interest as the parent’s from the start.

What age can a child have a savings app in the UK? Most apps start at 6: Monzo and Revolut run to 15, Starling to 16, HyperJar and Rooster Money to 17, and GoHenry to 18. From 16, teenagers can usually open their own account, such as Revolut’s separate 16 to 17 account.

Is a Junior ISA better than a kids savings app? For money that will not be needed until 18, yes. A Junior ISA allows up to £9,000 a year in 2026 to 2027, sits outside the £100 parental rule, and cannot be withdrawn before 18. Keep a savings app for pocket money and short-term goals.