How much does a virtual assistant cost?

Offshore virtual assistants cost about $6 to $25 an hour and U.S.-based agencies far more; the best value is not the lowest rate but a top-1% hire you choose yourself, with the hiring done for you.

“How much does a virtual assistant cost?” has five honest answers, because there are five ways to hire one: a job board, a managed general assistant, a dedicated offshore hire, a U.S.-based agency, or an employee on your own payroll. The hourly rate is only the start. What you get for it, who does the hiring, and what a hire who doesn’t work out costs you change the real number.

We’re VirtueStaff, a remote staffing company in Gilbert, Arizona, rated 4.9 out of 5 from 32 Google reviews. We’re not the cheapest option, and we don’t try to be. We hold a high bar, few candidates make it through, and we pay the people we place above industry standards, because that’s how you get a hire who becomes a real part of your team. This guide puts our prices next to the other options, using each company’s own published pricing and federal wage data, so you can compare what you actually get.

What does a virtual assistant cost, by type of service?

About $6 to $25 an hour offshore, about $65 an hour at a U.S.-based agency, and about $28 an hour for an employee once taxes and benefits are counted. To compare like with like, the table converts each published monthly package to an hourly figure (package price divided by its hours).

Option	Published price	Per hour	Who finds and screens the hire	Who chooses
Job board (OnlineJobs.ph)	$69 or $99 a month for access, plus the worker’s pay, which you negotiate	The worker’s pay, plus the subscription	You	You
Managed general assistant (Wing Assistant)	$999 a month for 160 hours	About $6.25	The company	Wing: “We interview and assess them for you”
Dedicated assistant, VirtueStaff	$12 an hour for an assistant; $15 for executive assistants and industry professionals	$12 to $15, nothing upfront	We do, in seven steps; only the top 1% are presented	You interview 2–4 finalists per round and choose
Dedicated assistant, Stealth Agents	$1,600 to $3,000 a month for 160 hours, plus an onboarding fee and a three-month commitment	About $10 to $19, plus the fee	The company	They match you with an assistant
Dedicated assistant, Hire Overseas	$2,000 to $4,000 a month for most roles	About $12.50 to $25 at 160 hours	The company	Not stated on their pricing page
U.S.-based agency (Boldly)	$2,600 for 40 hours a month, up to $6,500 for 100 hours	$65	The company	You meet the recommended assistant
In-house U.S. employee	Administrative assistant at the median wage, with payroll taxes and benefits	About $28	You	You

Prices are as each company published them on 23 October 2026 (Boldly on 27 October) and change; check before you buy. Our monthly figures use 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year: a full-time assistant at $12 an hour is about $2,080 a month.

Which option gives a U.S. small business the best value?

For most U.S. small businesses, a dedicated assistant you choose yourself, from a company that does the recruiting, screening and payroll. It costs a fraction of an employee, and unlike a general assistant or a job board, you get a screened professional who works only for you. Among dedicated-hire companies, compare what you pay before day one, how long you’re committed, and whether you choose the person:

	VirtueStaff	Stealth Agents	Wing Assistant	Job board
Upfront cost	None	One-time onboarding fee	None stated; $35 a month to pay by card	Subscription before you can contact anyone
Commitment	Month-to-month for most services	Three-month commitment listed	No long-term contract	None
Who screens	Seven steps; top 1% presented	The company	The company	You
Who chooses	You, from 2–4 finalists per round	They match an assistant	Wing interviews for you	You
Credentialed professionals (CPAs licensed in their home countries, NCLEX-passed RNs, trained attorneys)	Yes, by role and industry	Assistants with 4–10+ years’ experience	General Virtual Assistants, plus roles across many industries	Whoever applies
Talent regions	Six	The Philippines	“All over the world”	The Philippines (OnlineJobs.ph)
If the hire isn’t right	Replaced at no cost, any time, for any reason; billing paused meanwhile	Free replacement; money-back guarantee	Free replacement	You recruit again; subscription refund within 30 days

Choose a job board if you’d rather recruit and run payroll yourself, and a U.S.-based agency if the assistant must be in the United States. For everyone else, the rest of this guide shows what a dedicated assistant through us costs and what it includes.

What do you get with VirtueStaff, and what does it cost?

A top-1% hire you choose yourself, with the hiring burden taken off your plate, from $12 an hour and nothing upfront. Every candidate goes through the same seven steps: a resume screen, an English and accent screen, a skill assessment, an internal interview, a technology evaluation, a specialized evaluation for the role, and your own interview. Over 5,000 candidates are screened per week, and only the top 1% are presented to you. We do the sourcing, the screening and the payroll; you meet the finalists and choose. Candidates can be ready to interview in as little as 3 days, and a new hire can start in as few as 5 days from the first call. We recruit primarily in the Philippines, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Pakistan, Africa and India, so we can match the time zone, language and skills your role needs, including bilingual English-Spanish candidates.

Every rate is published:

Role	Full-time (40 hours a week)	About per month	Part-time (20 hours a week)	About per month
VirtueStaff Assistants	$12/hr	$2,080	$13/hr	$1,127
Executive Assistants	$15/hr	$2,600	$16/hr	$1,387
Medical, Accounting and Real Estate Professionals	$15/hr	$2,600	$16/hr	$1,387
Legal and Marketing Professionals	from $15/hr	from $2,600	from $16/hr	from $1,387
Trades Professionals	from $12/hr	from $2,080	from $13/hr	from $1,127

Admin and bookkeeping in one hire? Choose an Accounting Professional at $15 an hour: our accounting candidates include CPAs licensed in their home countries, chartered accountants and bookkeepers with U.S. GAAP experience, and they handle AP and AR, reconciliations and month-end close alongside admin. For admin, calendar and inbox work alone, a VirtueStaff Assistant at $12 is the fit.

What the rate includes:

• Your own assistant who works only for you, in your time zone and during the hours that suit your business.
• Your choice of hire. You interview 2–4 finalists per round, for as many rounds as you need. Most clients find a hire they really like within one or two rounds.
• Support from day one: a dedicated success manager for you and your hire, with mentoring and training along the way.
• The Perfect-Fit Guarantee: we replace a hire at no cost, at any time, for any reason. If a hire is no longer a good fit for your organization, we pause billing and set up a new interview round to find the replacement. It never costs you anything.
• Month-to-month terms for most services; VirtueStaff Teams can differ.
• Confidentiality in writing: every hire signs a contract with us that includes an NDA and confidentiality clause covering your business.

The full list is on our pricing page.

What does an in-house assistant really cost?

About $4,800 a month for an administrative assistant once payroll taxes and benefits are added, and about $7,800 for an executive assistant. Here are the federal median wages, with the same taxes and benefits our virtual dispatcher cost guide uses, next to the matching VirtueStaff hire:

Role	U.S. median wage, May 2025	In-house total per year	VirtueStaff, full-time	You keep per year
Administrative assistant	$22.86/hr	$58,123	$24,960 ($12/hr)	$33,163
Executive assistant	$36.82/hr	$93,591	$31,200 ($15/hr)	$62,391
Bookkeeping clerk	$24.36/hr	$61,934	$31,200 ($15/hr)	$30,734

How the in-house total is built, for 2,080 paid hours a year: the median wage, plus 7.65% for Social Security and Medicare, $42 of federal unemployment tax, and 14.5% of pay for insurance and retirement. State unemployment tax and workers’ comp vary by state and are left out, so these totals are a floor. Per hour, that’s about $28 for an administrative assistant, $45 for an executive assistant and $30 for a bookkeeping clerk.

These figures are general information, not tax advice. Check your own rates with your accountant.

What costs don’t show up in the hourly rate?

Upfront fees, minimum commitments, overtime and a hire who doesn’t work out. Ask every company about these before you compare rates:

Cost	What to ask	VirtueStaff
Before day one	Is there a setup or onboarding fee?	None. No setup, onboarding or upfront costs
Commitment	Is there a minimum term?	Month-to-month for most services
Payment fees	Is there a surcharge for paying by card?	Rates are flat with no hidden fees
Extra hours	Do hours over 40 cost more?	As long as the hire agrees, the same flat hourly rate, no overtime surcharge
Raises and bonuses	Does the company take a cut?	100% goes to your hire
A hire who doesn’t work out	Who finds the replacement, and what does it cost?	We do, at no cost, at any time, for any reason, and billing pauses while we find them
Your time	Who recruits, screens and handles payroll?	We do; you interview the finalists and choose

The published terms elsewhere show why the questions matter. Stealth Agents’ pricing page lists a one-time onboarding fee and a three-month commitment. Wing Assistant charges $35 a month for card payments. On a job board, the recruiting, payroll and tax paperwork are yours; our guide to hiring directly or through an agency walks through them.

Why don’t we compete on the lowest price?

Because the cheapest hire is rarely the cheapest, and the best people don’t work for the lowest rate. A lower monthly price usually buys a general assistant for a task list. That can be enough for routine admin. For work that carries your clients, your books or your reputation, you need a contributor: someone who learns your business, notices what’s slipping and fixes it. A hire who doesn’t work out costs you the search, the training and the weeks in between, again; our post on the turnover tax shows how to price that.

So we built VirtueStaff around quality:

• High standards. Seven screening steps, and only the top 1% of over 5,000 candidates a week reach a client.
• Better pay for the people we place. Our hires are paid above industry standards and can earn up to 8x their local salaries, and raises and bonuses go 100% to them. The best candidates want the job, and they keep it.
• Support on both sides. A dedicated success manager works with you and your hire, and the Perfect-Fit Guarantee replaces a hire at no cost, at any time, for any reason.

Better businesses, brighter futures

The rate pays for an approach that works for both sides of the hire. For the people we place, a VirtueStaff role is a life-changing opportunity: a real career with a company that values them, at pay well above what they could earn locally. For our clients, it’s perfect-fit talent without the hiring burden, and a tool to build and scale the business, one hire or a whole team at a time.

Here’s what that looks like at our clients:

• Leak Science, a leak detection company in the Phoenix Valley, has had the same remote office manager since August 2024. With her running the office, the owner now spends just three to five hours a week on the business.
• McCarthy Law, an estate planning firm in Rhode Island, grew from one executive assistant to a six-person remote team.
• Willmeng Construction, a commercial general contractor in Phoenix, added seven remote hires in accounting, IT and people operations in seven months.

We treat her like an executive, not like a virtual assistant.

Aspen West, Leak Science

How do you get the most for your money?

Price the role, compare the whole cost, and choose the person yourself.

1. Price the level of the role, not the title. A general task list fits an assistant; running your calendar, inbox and projects fits an executive assistant; your books, patients or transactions fit an industry professional. See what an executive assistant costs, what outsourced bookkeeping costs and what a transaction coordinator costs.
2. Compare the total for a year. Add the upfront fee, the minimum term, payment fees and overtime to the monthly price.
3. Interview more than one finalist. The person matters more than the rate. Ask any company how many people you’ll meet and who makes the final call.

For a side-by-side of specific companies, see the best virtual assistant companies compared.

Frequently asked questions