BELAY Pricing in 2026: What BELAY Publishes, What Its Own Numbers Add Up To and the 45-Hour Floor Test for Any Flat Monthly Quote
October 23, 2026
BELAY does not publish a price list: as stated on its FAQ and service pages on October 23, 2026, it quotes each engagement as a flat monthly fee after a consultation, support typically begins at 45 hours a month on month-to-month terms, and its own cost guide says U.S.-based virtual assistants generally charge $30 to $75 an hour, or $1,200 to $3,000 a month. That range describes the US market, not a BELAY quote, so your number comes from a call.
This guide lists everything BELAY publishes about cost, turns its own figures into monthly and yearly amounts, and gives you a three-step test to judge any flat monthly quote against the hours you will actually use and a fully loaded US hire. Virtustant is a remote staffing agency and one of the routes compared, so we stick to published facts and show every calculation. For the head-to-head on models, see Virtustant vs BELAY.
BELAY places U.S.-based assistants and bookkeepers and offers payroll, tax and fractional finance support. Here is everything its own pages say about cost, read on October 23, 2026:
| Item | What BELAY says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Price list | "Pricing is custom and quoted after a consultation rather than published as fixed tiers." | BELAY llms.txt |
| How the fee is set | "BELAY scopes the hours and skill level a business actually needs, then quotes a flat monthly fee for that scope rather than a one-size-fits-all rate card." | Assistant Solutions |
| Minimum hours | "Support typically begins at 45 hours a month." | BELAY FAQ |
| Contract | "Support runs month-to-month, not on a long-term contract, and you can scale hours up or down as your needs change." | BELAY FAQ |
| Typical executive assistant hours | "Many leaders start their Executive Assistant at 10 to 20 hours a week and adjust as priorities change." | BELAY FAQ |
| US market rate | "On average, U.S.-based virtual assistants charge $30 to $75 per hour. That translates to around $1,200 to $3,000 per month for part-time support." | BELAY cost guide |
| Bookkeeping | Pricing "scales with how complex your books are, how many transactions run through them, and what you're trying to accomplish." | BELAY FAQ |
| Matching | A Client Success Consultant selects "two to three candidates" from a bench of "2,000+ vetted U.S.-based professionals" and interviews each before recommending a match; most clients are matched "in as little as one week." | Assistant Solutions |
| If the match is wrong | Right-Fit Guarantee: "we'll rematch you at no additional cost." BELAY reports a 93% first-match success rate. | Assistant Solutions |
| Converting your assistant | "BELAY can help you transition your Executive Assistant into an internal full-time role." No fee is published. | BELAY FAQ |
Not published on the pages we read: an hourly rate, any monthly fee, a setup fee, a deposit, the price of extra hours, whether unused hours carry over, a cancellation notice period, or a conversion fee. Its old pricing address, belaysolutions.com/pricing, returned a not-found page on October 23, 2026. BELAY's article How Much Does an Executive Assistant Cost? (October 20, 2026) says the same: "BELAY uses flat monthly pricing based on the hours and support you need."
Two more terms matter. Every BELAY professional is U.S.-based and, per its notice for clients outside the US, works "Monday-Friday between 9-5 p.m. in their time zone." And the screening "happens on BELAY's end": you meet your match on a kickoff call.
The only dollar figures on BELAY's pages are the US market range in its cost guide. Two things fall out of it.
Divide each end of the monthly range by the matching hourly rate: $1,200 ÷ $30 = 40 hours, and $3,000 ÷ $75 = 40 hours. Both ends describe the same 40 hours a month, about 9.2 hours a week. That is just below BELAY's own starting floor of 45 hours a month.
The table runs BELAY's stated $30 to $75 an hour through the hours its own pages mention. These are illustrations built from BELAY's description of the US market, not BELAY quotes. Weekly hours are converted at 52 ÷ 12 = 4.33 weeks a month.
| Hours | Per month at $30 to $75 an hour | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| BELAY's starting floor: 45 hours a month (about 10.4 hours a week) | $1,350.00 to $3,375.00 | $16,200.00 to $40,500.00 |
| 10 hours a week (about 43.3 hours a month) | $1,300.00 to $3,250.00 | $15,600.00 to $39,000.00 |
| 20 hours a week (about 86.7 hours a month) | $2,600.00 to $6,500.00 | $31,200.00 to $78,000.00 |
| Full time, 160 hours a month | $4,800.00 to $12,000.00 | $57,600.00 to $144,000.00 |
At the 45-hour floor the range is $1,350.00 to $3,375.00 a month. A 10-hour week is about 43.3 hours a month, just under the floor, so ask how the minimum is applied if that is all you need.
Where does $30 to $75 an hour sit against a US hire? The BLS median for secretaries and administrative assistants is $23.23 an hour, or $33.19 once benefits at 30% of total compensation are added. For executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants it is $76,590 a year ($36.82 an hour), or $52.60 an hour loaded. The low end of BELAY's range is close to a loaded admin hour; the high end is above a loaded executive assistant hour. A fractional service mostly saves you the hours you do not need, not money per hour.
A flat monthly fee is easy to budget and hard to compare. The 45-Hour Floor Test turns any flat-fee assistant quote, BELAY's included, into three numbers.
A worked example with an example quote of $2,000 a month for 45 hours. This is an example input chosen inside BELAY's stated range for 45 hours, not a BELAY price:
| Hours you actually use | Used-hour rate | Vs loaded executive assistant hour ($52.60) | Vs loaded admin hour ($33.19) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45 hours | $44.44 | Below | Above |
| 38 hours | $52.63 | Above | Above |
| 30 hours | $66.67 | Above | Above |
| 20 hours | $100.00 | Above | Above |
At $2,000, the quote beats a loaded executive assistant hour if you use at least 38.0 hours a month. For admin work it never does: you would need 60.3 hours, more than the 45 in the plan.
The rule. Divide the quote by the hours you will really use. If the result is above $52.60 for executive assistant work or $33.19 for admin work, the fee is buying flexibility and a managed match, not a lower hourly cost. That can still be worth it; just know which one you are paying for.
One need, an executive assistant, through five routes, priced on what each publishes. The 45-hour column uses BELAY's starting floor.
| Route | How it is priced | 45 hours a month | Full time | Who is in the seat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BELAY | Flat monthly fee quoted after a consultation; support typically begins at 45 hours a month | Not published. BELAY's US market range gives $1,350.00 to $3,375.00 | Not published. The same range gives $4,800 to $12,000 at 160 hours | A U.S.-based professional matched by BELAY |
| Upwork | The freelancer's rate plus a client marketplace fee of up to 7.99% on Basic (3% for qualifying US bank accounts) | Rate × 45 × 1.0799 | Rate × 160 × 1.0799 | A freelancer you find and vet |
| Deel (contractor plan) | The pay you set, plus from $49 per contractor per month | Pay + $49 | Pay + $49 | A contractor you find and vet |
| US in-house hire (BLS) | $76,590 median salary plus benefits at 30% of total compensation | $2,367.14 at the loaded hourly cost | $9,117.86 a month loaded | Your employee |
| Virtustant | All-in hourly rate: executive assistants from $8.50/hr; H1 2026 median $12.00/hr (n=24) | $382.50 at the starting rate; $540.00 at the median | $1,360.00 at the starting rate; $1,920.00 at the median (160 hours) | A Latin American professional on US hours, chosen by you from a shortlist |
Upwork terms from its client marketplace fee article and Deel terms from its pricing page, both read October 23, 2026; see Deel pricing in 2026 for every Deel plan. For a virtual assistant rather than an executive assistant, Virtustant starts at $7/hr ($315.00 for 45 hours, $1,120.00 for 160), and in Virtustant's H1 2026 placement data (441 starts, January to June 2026), the median client-side rate for a virtual assistant was $10.10/hr (n=24), or $1,616.00 at 160 hours (2026 Nearshore Rate Report).
The routes do not buy the same thing. BELAY places a U.S.-based professional and screens for you; Upwork and Deel leave finding and vetting to you; Virtustant places a professional from Latin America on US hours, chosen by you from a shortlist. If the person must be based in the US, only BELAY and the in-house hire qualify.
Part-time seats are common: of 25 virtual assistant positions Virtustant filled from August 24 to September 30, 2026, 14 were part time, with a median of 20 hours a week (full dataset). Our Time Etc pricing and Wishup pricing guides use the same method.
BELAY fits a specific buyer well:
BELAY is a weaker fit when you need fewer than 45 hours a month, want a published rate before the first call, want to choose the person yourself, need Spanish-English coverage, or the role is full time and budget per seat decides it. For a broader view of the options, see how much a virtual assistant costs and compare agencies.
Virtustant is a remote staffing agency. We recruit a dedicated, bilingual professional from Latin America who works your hours and is directed by you, at one all-in hourly rate. Starting rates for the roles BELAY also covers: virtual assistants from $7/hr; social media managers from $8/hr; executive assistants and bookkeepers from $8.50/hr; marketing from $7/hr. See pricing for every role, the executive assistant, virtual assistant and bookkeeper role pages, and the rate report for the H1 2026 medians. For bookkeepers the H1 2026 median was $12.85/hr (n=7, a small sample).
Shortlist in 48 hours. Start in 72 hours. You get a shortlist of 3 to 5 vetted candidates within 48 hours of your first call, and your hire can start in 72 hours. The vetting funnel: 100% apply, 22% clear the recruiter screen, 9% pass cognitive (IQ), skills and English testing, 3% reach a live interview, 1% are hired, which is what we mean by the top 1%.
After the hire, your account manager is the main point of contact and coordinates onboarding, the start date, tools access and a first-week plan, then follows up during the first weeks. You direct the day-to-day work. Virtustant handles payroll, paperwork and everything administrative on the professional's side. Terms are month-to-month with zero placement fees, a lifetime replacement guarantee and one weekly invoice per placement. How Virtustant makes money: if you pay your agent $10/hr, we give them $9 and keep the dollar in the middle. Virtustant is rated 4.9/5 on G2 and 4.5/5 on Trustpilot.
On cost against a US hire: the BLS 2025 median pay for executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants is $76,590 a year, or $36.82 an hour. Thirty percent of $36.82 is $11.05, and the $8.50 starting rate sits below it, which is why you can save up to 70% at the starting rate. Senior roles are quoted above the floor.
Related: Virtustant vs BELAY, virtual assistant rates and how to hire remote workers. Ready to price a role? Book a discovery call.
BELAY does not publish its prices. As of October 2026, it quotes a flat monthly fee after a consultation, based on the hours and skill level you need, and support typically begins at 45 hours a month. Its own cost guide says U.S.-based virtual assistants generally charge $30 to $75 an hour, which at 45 hours would be $1,350 to $3,375 a month. That is BELAY's description of the US market, not a BELAY quote.
No. BELAY's site says pricing is custom and quoted after a consultation rather than published as fixed tiers, and belaysolutions.com/pricing returned a not-found page on October 23, 2026. Its pages also do not publish a setup fee, deposit, overage rate, cancellation notice period or conversion fee, so ask for each in writing with your quote.
BELAY's FAQ says support typically begins at 45 hours a month, which is about 10.4 hours a week. A 10-hour week works out to about 43.3 hours a month, just under that floor, so if you only need 10 hours a week, ask how the minimum is applied before you sign.
No. BELAY says support runs month to month, not on a long-term contract, and that you can scale hours up or down as your needs change. Its pages do not state a notice period for cancelling, so confirm it on your agreement.
BELAY says it uses flat monthly pricing based on the hours and support you need, and that many leaders start an executive assistant at 10 to 20 hours a week. At the $30 to $75 an hour BELAY cites for U.S.-based virtual assistants, 20 hours a week (about 86.7 hours a month) would be $2,600 to $6,500 a month. BELAY's actual fee is quoted on a call.
BELAY does not publish bookkeeping prices. Its FAQ says bookkeeping pricing scales with how complex your books are, how many transactions run through them and what you are trying to accomplish. For targeted work such as reconciliation only, BELAY says its fractional controllers can scope support to that piece.
BELAY's Right-Fit Guarantee rematches you with another assistant at no additional cost, and BELAY reports a 93% first-match success rate. Its consultant selects two to three candidates from a bench of 2,000+ U.S.-based professionals and interviews them; most clients are matched in as little as one week.
If the assistant does not need to be US-based, a remote staffing agency usually costs less per hour. Through Virtustant, executive assistants start at $8.50/hr all-in ($1,360 for 160 hours), with an H1 2026 median of $12.00/hr (n=24). You choose from a shortlist of 3 to 5 vetted candidates within 48 hours of your first call, on month-to-month terms with zero placement fees.
