Virtual Assistant Pricing in 2026: 5 Models Compared
September 25, 2026
Virtual assistant pricing in 2026 comes in five models: hourly marketplace rates, block-of-hours packages, managed monthly units, an in-house salary, and all-in hourly staffing. On Upwork, 201 virtual assistant profiles show a median of $14.50 an hour before platform fees. Published US package plans run $36 to $65 an hour. Virtustant virtual assistants start at $7/hr all-in, with no placement fee; the final quote depends on the role and schedule.
Compare the total monthly client cost at the hours you expect to buy. This guide uses explicit 80-hour and 160-hour monthly billing examples to make hourly rates, package minimums and fixed fees easier to compare; request the actual quote for your schedule.
Third-party figures are those each source publishes on its own site, checked September 2026. Virtustant commercial examples use current published starting prices by role and explicit billed hours. Separately cited intake-budget and candidate-profile measures retain their own stated samples and dates; the linked research reports define the H1 placement cohort. Looking for hourly rates by country and experience level instead of pricing models? Our guide to how much a virtual assistant costs covers rates in depth.
Each model below is priced from what its provider publishes. Providers are described by model rather than by name; our side-by-side comparison of 22 staffing providers names each one with its published terms.
| Pricing model | How you pay | Pricing context and example assumptions | Effective per hour | What you still carry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hourly marketplace freelancer | Tracked hours, paid through the platform | Median $14.50/hr across 201 Upwork VA profiles, plus a Basic-plan client fee of up to 7.99% | $15.66 at the median using the maximum 7.99% Basic fee | Vetting, backup, replacement, contracts |
| Block-of-hours package (US service) | Prepaid monthly plan of 10 to 60 hours | $390 for 10 hours up to $2,160 for 60 hours; unused hours roll over on the 20-hour plan and up | $36 to $39 | Scope must fit the plan hours |
| Premium package (US service) | Monthly plan in 20-hour steps | $2,600 for 40 hours up to $6,500 for 100 hours; 40-hour minimum | $65 ($79 for specialist tasks) | The 40-hour minimum |
| Managed units (fractional dedicated) | Monthly units of 55 hours | $1,600 per unit; full-time from $3,600 a month; 90-day minimum per unit; $250 setup, waived on an annual contract | $29.09 per unit hour | The 90-day minimum |
| In-house US administrative assistant | Salary plus benefits | Median wage $23.23/hr, $48,310 a year (BLS, May 2025) | $23.23 per hour in wages alone; benefits add about 30% of compensation on top | Recruiting, payroll taxes, equipment, turnover |
| All-in hourly staffing (Virtustant) | One hourly rate, billed for the hours scheduled | From $7/hr all-in for virtual assistants; scoped to the role; no placement fee | From $7/hr for virtual assistants | Day-to-day direction of the work |
Effective hourly rates divide the published monthly price by the plan's hours. The in-house figure is the BLS median wage; wages were 70.0% and benefits 30.0% of private-industry compensation costs in June 2026 (BLS, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation), so the fully loaded cost is higher. Upwork's Client Marketplace Fee policy lists a Basic-plan fee of up to 7.99%. The arithmetic examples use that maximum; the applicable fee and any contract initiation fee should be confirmed before hiring. Virtustant examples use the published virtual-assistant starting offer; current role prices and the scoped quote determine the total client cost.
You find a freelancer on a marketplace, agree an hourly rate, and pay for tracked time. The rate is the freelancer's, and the platform adds its fee on top: Upwork's Client Marketplace Fee policy lists a Basic-plan fee of up to 7.99% (3% for eligible US clients paying by bank account), and a contract initiation fee of $0.99 to $14.99 per new contract on Basic. Fixed-price projects work the same way, priced per deliverable instead of per hour, and fit one-off work better than ongoing support.
It is the most flexible model and the one that leaves the most with you. Vetting, backup cover and replacement are your job, and every new hire restarts the search.
A subscription service sells a monthly bucket of hours. One US service publishes four plans: 10 hours for $390, 20 for $760, 40 for $1,480 and 60 for $2,160, with larger plans quoted on consultation. That is $39 an hour on the smallest plan and $36 on the largest. Another publishes $65 an hour in plans from 40 to 100 hours, $79 an hour for specialist work such as project management or design, and a 40-hour monthly minimum.
Packages suit work that is steady but small. The trade-off is that the price per hour rises as the plan shrinks, which is covered below.
A managed provider sells fixed units of capacity. One publishes $1,600 a month for a 55-hour unit, a full-time dedicated assistant from $3,600 a month at three or more units, a 90-day minimum per unit, and a $250 setup fee that is waived on an annual agreement. Per unit hour that is $29.09; at the full-time tier of 165 hours it falls to about $21.82.
Hiring directly means a salary plus everything that rides on it. The BLS puts the median wage for secretaries and administrative assistants at $48,310 a year, or $23.23 an hour, in May 2025, and $76,590 for executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants. Benefits were 30.0% of private-industry compensation costs in June 2026, so the median administrative hire costs about $69,014 a year, roughly $5,751 a month, before recruiting, equipment and the cost of an empty seat while you search. Our breakdown of cost per hire shows how that vacancy line adds up.
A staffing agency places a dedicated remote professional and bills one hourly rate with the agreed payroll, compliance and HR support included. That is Virtustant's model: an all-in published rate with no placement fee, a shortlist in 48 hours and lifetime replacement. Candidates come from the top 1% of applicants, after a vetting funnel that narrows every 100 applicants to 22, then 9, then 3, then 1. Virtual-assistant rates start at $7/hr all-in. Other roles have their own published starting prices and are quoted for the scope required.
Staffing agencies charge in very different ways, from one-time placement fees to recurring markups. Our guide to what staffing agencies charge compares them, and freelance vs agency vs managed VA covers who does what in each model.
Pricing pages use different blocks of hours. Convert every quote to the schedule you need and make the billing assumption explicit. The examples below use 80 and 160 billed hours per month, rather than implying that every month contains exactly four weeks.
| Illustrative billed hours per month | VA starting price | Starting-price cost example |
|---|---|---|
| 80 | $7/hr all-in | $560 |
| 160 | $7/hr all-in | $1,120 |
Budgeting examples use the published $7/hr virtual-assistant starting price multiplied by explicit billed hours. Confirm the quote and actual billing schedule. Current cohort definitions are maintained in the 2026 nearshore rate report.
So the fair way to compare quotes is to price each one at 20 and at 40 hours a week and look at the monthly total. Here is every model on this page at those two points, using 80 and 160 hours a month (four weeks).
| Pricing model | 20 hours a week (80 h/month) | 40 hours a week (160 h/month) |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly marketplace, illustrative $14.50/hr + maximum 7.99% Basic fee | $1,252.68 | $2,505.37 |
| Block-of-hours package, $36 to $39/hr | No published plan; largest is 60 hours for $2,160 | Quoted on consultation |
| Premium package, $65/hr | $5,200 | Quoted on request (160+ hours) |
| Managed units, $1,600 per 55 hours | $3,200 (two units, 110 hours of capacity) | From $3,600 (full-time tier, 165+ hours) |
| In-house US administrative assistant | Not comparable | About $3,717 in wages alone ($23.23 × 160 paid hours), before benefits |
| All-in hourly staffing, Virtustant VA starting price $7/hr | From $560 | From $1,120 |
Two things jump out. At 20 hours a week, the unit model sells you 110 hours to cover 80, and the four-plan package tops out at 60. At 40 hours a week, two of the four third-party models stop publishing a price at all. If a model has no clean price at 20 and 40 hours a week, it is priced for a buyer who does not exist in most of the market.
Package pricing rewards volume. On the four-plan US service above, an hour costs $39 on the 10-hour plan and $36 on the 60-hour plan, so a small buyer pays about 8% more per hour for the same work.
All-in hourly staffing is quoted for the role and schedule. Compare the quote at the actual weekly hours and responsibilities required. A smaller schedule does not by itself establish a higher or lower hourly rate; request both options and compare the total client cost. Fixed monthly platform fees are spread over fewer hours on a smaller schedule. The 2026 nearshore rate report defines the current research cohort; a cohort distribution does not replace a role-specific quote.
The practical takeaway: if you only need 20 hours, a model that charges you less per hour for buying more is steering you toward hours you do not need. Buy the hours the work requires and check that the rate holds at that size.
Roles have different starting prices. Browse the roles we hire for each current starting price. The table below lists current published offers; confirm experience, responsibilities and schedule when requesting the total client quote.
| Role | Published starting price (total client rate) |
|---|---|
| Virtual assistant | From $7/hr all-in |
| Executive assistant | From $8.50/hr all-in |
| Appointment setter | From $8/hr all-in |
| Social media manager | From $8/hr all-in |
| Cold caller | Quote for the responsibilities and schedule |
| Recruiter | Quote for the responsibilities and schedule |
| Sales development rep (SDR/BDR) | From $8/hr all-in |
| Legal assistant or paralegal | Quote for the responsibilities and schedule |
| Customer service representative | From $7/hr all-in |
| Graphic designer | From $8/hr all-in |
| Bookkeeper | From $8.50/hr all-in |
| Dispatcher (small sample) | Quote for the responsibilities and schedule |
| Administrative assistant (small sample) | Quote for the responsibilities and schedule |
Starting prices are scoped to the role, experience and schedule. For dated cohort definitions and research findings, see the 2026 nearshore rate report and US vs LATAM salary guide.
SDR rates start at $8/hr all-in; the rate is scoped to the role. See the sales development representative role page for current pricing. The final total client price depends on the agreed scope.
Source: current published Virtustant role offers. Research findings and cohort definitions are maintained separately in the 2026 nearshore rate report and US vs LATAM salary guide. Related reading: pricing page.
Our video walks through the same data for assistants hired from Latin America:
Hourly rates tell you what a placement cost. Intake budgets tell you what buyers planned to spend before they talked to anyone. These are the monthly budgets US companies stated when they came to us to fill each function.
| Function | Searches reviewed | Median monthly budget | Range | Bought part-time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bookkeeping and accounting | 25 | $2,072 | $866 to $3,464 | — |
| Administrative and assistant | 79 | $1,818 | $346 to $2,947 | 58% |
| Sales development and lead gen | 20 | $1,732 | $1,040 to $2,513 | 35% |
| Customer service and support | 22 | $1,648 | $345 to $2,535 | 21% |
| Marketing and social media | 23 | $1,212 | $216 to $5,196 | 61% |
Virtustant first-party intake data: searches opened in our recruitment system through 23 September 2026, deduplicated by company, covering open, hired, declined, ghosted and on-hold roles. Each figure is the midpoint of the monthly client budget the company stated; internal roles and roles without a stated budget are excluded. Each function is a separate sample, so these compare as prices, not as shares of demand.
The function that task lists put first, social media, carries the lowest median budget and the highest part-time share, because it is bought in slices. Bookkeeping carries the highest, because a monthly close is bought as a seat. Our guide to virtual assistant tasks breaks down what to delegate first, and bookkeeper pricing goes deeper on the finance seat.
Low hourly rates are easy to find. An analysis of 201 Upwork virtual assistant profiles, updated in May 2026, found a median of $14.50 an hour and an average of $20.50, with rates from $5 to $89 an hour. Half the profiles sat under $15, 18% between $15 and $30, and 32% above $30. US-based assistants had a median of $38 an hour against $11 for overseas assistants (Source data on VA rate distributions).
That spread is why buyers arrive anchored low. In one of our September 2026 discovery calls, a buyer raised a concern that our rates were higher than the $6 to $10 an hour their own research had found. Their research was not wrong. It was measuring the sticker, not the month.
The number that decides the month is the effective rate:
Effective rate = (hourly rate × hours billed + platform, setup and processing fees + your time spent vetting, managing and replacing) ÷ hours of useful work delivered.
A $10 freelancer who takes three weeks to find and leaves after two months can cost more per useful hour than a $13 professional who stays, because the search and the ramp are billed to you either way. That is also why speed belongs in the price comparison: Virtustant sends a shortlist within 48 hours of your first call, and your hire can start in 72 hours. Our analysis of time to hire shows how that compares with published benchmarks.
Overlap is also where working with professionals in Latin America earns its keep: the benefits of nearshore staffing for US teams come from sharing the business day, not from the rate alone. For additional hiring context, see our fair pay strategies for remote LATAM hires and the published 2026 nearshore rate report.
If your business does not run a monthly operating budget yet, a simple monthly template is the fastest way to get started with budgeting before you add a new recurring line. Then add these lines for the assistant:
Worked example at the published virtual-assistant starting price: $7 × 80 billed hours = $560, and $7 × 160 billed hours = $1,120. There is no separate recruitment or placement fee. Your total client quote depends on the role, responsibilities and agreed schedule. Related reading: pricing page.
Against a US in-house hire, the published $7.00 starting rate is 69.9% below the $23.23 median administrative wage alone, which is how Virtustant clients save up to 70%.
Everything else, meaning ongoing work at 20 or 40 hours a week during US business hours, is where an all-in rate is easiest to compare and hardest to beat. See how it works on our virtual assistant services page.
Price the hours you will actually buy. Virtustant virtual assistants start at $7/hr all-in: $560 for 80 billed hours and $1,120 for 160 billed hours at that starting price. Compare those examples with an actual role quote and include any platform fees when assessing a marketplace alternative.
It depends on the model. The marketplace and package comparisons above use the cited provider information. Virtustant virtual assistants start at $7/hr all-in, and the final total client quote depends on responsibilities, experience and schedule.
Hourly pricing bills tracked or scheduled hours at a set rate. Package pricing sells a prepaid monthly block of hours, such as 10, 20, 40 or 60, and usually charges more per hour on the smaller plans: one published US plan goes from $39 an hour at 10 hours to $36 at 60.
Only if you use the hours. A retainer or unit plan fixes the monthly price, so the effective rate rises for every hour you do not use. Compare the monthly total at your real schedule, 20 or 40 hours a week, rather than the headline rate.
On package plans, smaller plans can carry a higher hourly price. For hourly staffing, compare the quoted rate at the schedules you need and ask which support or fixed charges are included. The size of the schedule alone does not establish the final hourly rate.
At the $7/hr virtual-assistant starting price, 160 billed hours cost $1,120. The managed-unit and US in-house examples above use different cost structures. Compare the actual quote, hours and included responsibilities before deciding.
Check for marketplace client fees (up to 7.99% on Upwork Basic, plus $0.99 to $14.99 per new contract on the Basic plan), setup fees ($250 per unit at one managed provider), card processing fees (2.9% at one package service), minimum terms and placement fees. Virtustant charges no placement fee.
Virtustant bills one total client hourly rate with the agreed payroll, compliance and HR support included and no recruitment or placement fee. Virtual-assistant rates start at $7/hr; confirm the final quote for the role and scheduled hours.
Virtustant sends a shortlist within 48 hours. Your hire can start in 72 hours.
Tell us the role and the schedule, and we will send a shortlist within 48 hours with one all-in rate and no placement fee. Start on our pricing page, see our staffing services, or book a call at Virtustant.
