Verdict at a glance
Pick Quilter if
Pick Quilter if you want a mainstream UK platform for an ISA, JISA or SIPP, and you're happy running it yourself through the Quilter Invest app or via your own adviser.
Pick coaching if
Pick coaching if you want help understanding the decision but would rather nobody took a percentage of your portfolio, or sold you a product at the end of it.
How we compared: published fees, account types and review scores for each, verified against the provider’s own price pages.
The short version
Both provide a genuine human adviser relationship, which suits people who want someone else to hold the plan. Both carry layered charges that materially reduce long-term returns, and neither gives you a model you control.
Why people compare them
The two large UK advice and wealth management networks that consumers compare when they have been approached by an adviser from one of them.
Three options, side by side
| Feature | Quilter | St. James's Place | Delphina coaching |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan | Quilter£2 per month | St. James's Place3% on the first £250,000 per one-off | Delphina coaching£99 per one-off session£1,999 a year for ongoing coaching, planning software included |
| Free tier | QuilterNo | St. James's PlaceNo | Delphina coachingYesThe planning software has a free plan. Coaching itself is paid. |
| How the fee is charged | QuilterA percentage of what you investThe cash cost rises as your portfolio does | St. James's PlaceA percentage of what you investThe cash cost rises as your portfolio does | Delphina coachingA flat feeThe same whatever you hold, and paid by you rather than by a provider |
| Recommends regulated products | QuilterYes, that is what advice meansRegulated, with Ombudsman recourse if the recommendation was wrong | St. James's PlaceYes, that is what advice meansRegulated, with Ombudsman recourse if the recommendation was wrong | Delphina coachingNoA coach sells no financial products, so coaching is not regulated advice and carries no product recourse |
| Billed in pounds | QuilterYes | St. James's PlaceYes | Delphina coachingYes |
| Best for | QuilterPeople who want a mainstream UK provider for an ISA, JISA or SIPP, either through their own adviser or through the Quilter Invest app | St. James's PlacePeople with a substantial portfolio who want a named human adviser handling everything | Delphina coachingPeople who want help thinking it through, and want the product decisions to stay theirs |
Where Quilter wins
- Quilter publishes both its adviser platform charge tiers and its consumer app prices openly, which is rarer in this market than it should be
- Quilter Invest is a genuine direct-to-consumer product, so you do not need an adviser relationship to open an ISA, JISA, GIA or SIPP
- The platform charge tapers as holdings grow, from 0.35% on the first £50,000 down to 0.15% above £750,000, and family linking lets a household combine values to reach a lower band
Where St. James's Place wins
- You get a real adviser you can sit down with, which no software replaces
- Holistic service across pensions, investments, protection, mortgages and estate planning in one relationship
- Scale and longevity: SJP is FCA regulated, listed, and has been advising UK households for decades
A third option
Coaching, not advice
Quilter and St. James's Place both sell advice, and advice has a narrow meaning: it is the recommendation of a specific regulated product. This pension, that fund, this bond. That is a real thing to buy, and it is why both firms are regulated. It is also why both charge a percentage of the money you hand over: the product is what is being sold, so the fee scales with it.
Financial coaching is a different shape. A coach does not sell financial products. There is no product range to place you into and no provider paying commission, so the fee buys someone’s time and attention rather than a transaction. You come out understanding your own options; the decision, and the buying, stay with you.
The argument is about incentives, not about people. Someone paid a percentage of your portfolio every year has a reason to want that portfolio with them, and in their funds. Someone paid a flat fee does not. On St. James's Place's published 0.80% ongoing advice charge, a £250,000 portfolio pays £2,000 a year for the advice layer alone, before product and fund charges, and that figure climbs as the portfolio does. A flat fee stays where it is.
Delphina’s coaches are paid by you and by nobody else. No commission, no product list, no share of what you hold. Coaching is £99 for a one-off session, or £1,999 a year for ongoing coaching with the planning software included.
Decided? Here’s the next question.
The verdict on the platform is one question. Whether you’re actually saving enough is another, and Delphina answers it from what you already hold and what you pay in each month.
Free. No card required. About two minutes.
Quilter vs St. James's Place: common questions
Quilter is £2 per month and St. James's Place is 3% on the first £250,000 per one-off. Compare the billing period before the number: an annual price and a monthly price are not the same thing.
You can, and some people do, because they solve different halves of the problem. It does mean paying for both, so add the two annual figures together before deciding.
Judge it on billing currency, Open Banking coverage and whether ISAs and pensions are handled. Check each one against those three points, because a tool that scores well elsewhere can still be a poor fit in the UK.
Quilter suits people who want a mainstream uk provider for an isa, jisa or sipp, either through their own adviser or through the quilter invest app. St. James's Place suits people with a substantial portfolio who want a named human adviser handling everything. The one that matches how you already think about money will take less setting up.
Quilter scores 4.5/5 on Apple App Store (UK) from 890 ratings. St. James's Place scores 2.6/5 on Apple App Store (UK) from 437 ratings. Weigh the volume as well as the score.
Advice is the recommendation of a specific regulated product, which is what Quilter and St. James's Place both sell, and it is charged as a percentage of what you invest. Coaching does not involve products at all: a coach takes no commission and recommends no funds, so you pay a flat fee for help understanding your own options and you make the decision yourself. Coaching is not regulated advice, so if you want someone to choose and arrange the product for you, advice is what you need.
Flat-fee coaching is the usual one. Because a coach sells no financial products, there is no commission and no share of your portfolio, so the fee does not grow as your pot does. Delphina coaching is £99 for a one-off session or £1,999 a year ongoing, with the planning software included. What it cannot do is recommend or arrange a specific pension or fund for you.