What does a virtual assistant cost in 2026?

The three ways to buy VA help

Almost every option falls into one of three buckets, and they price very differently.

1. Freelance marketplaces

Platforms like Upwork and Fiverr run from roughly $5 to $25 an hour depending on where the freelancer is based and how specialized the work is. You pay only for hours worked, which looks cheapest on paper. What you take on is the management: writing the job post, interviewing, training, checking quality, and starting again if they disappear. There's no cover when they're sick, and no one to escalate to when something goes wrong.

2. Managed VA agencies

Agencies charge a flat monthly fee for a set number of hours. Part-time plans commonly sit between $700 and $1,200 a month for around 80 hours, and full-time between $1,400 and $2,600 for around 160 hours. That works out to roughly $9 to $16 an hour. The fee includes recruiting, training, an account manager, backup cover and replacement if the fit is wrong. Skylink Co sits at $899 and $1,599 for those two tiers.

3. Hiring in-house

A full-time administrative assistant in the US typically costs around $3,500 to $4,200 a month in salary. Payroll taxes, benefits, equipment and software usually add 20 to 30 per cent on top, which lands most employers somewhere between $4,500 and $5,000 a month. Add recruiting time, four to eight weeks of training, and the risk of them leaving after six months.

What actually drives the price

• Where they work from. This is the single biggest factor. The same skills cost very different amounts in different markets.
• Specialisation. General admin is the cheapest. Bookkeeping, medical intake, paid ads and development cost more, and should.
• Hours committed. Full-time rates are almost always lower per hour than part-time, because the provider has steady utilization.
• Management included or not. A managed VA costs more per hour than a raw freelancer because someone else is doing the hiring, training and quality control.
• Coverage. Evenings, weekends and time-zone matching usually carry a premium, or are included in higher tiers.

The costs people forget

Hourly rate is the number everyone compares. These are the ones that decide whether it was actually cheap:

• Your time managing them. If you spend five hours a week supervising a $6/hour freelancer, that freelancer isn't cheap.
• Turnover. Every replacement means training from scratch. Twice a year is a real cost.
• Gaps in cover. One person means no cover when they're ill or on holiday, unless someone provides backup.
• Mistakes. A missed appointment, a wrong invoice or an unanswered lead costs more than the hour it took to handle.

A simple way to decide

If the work is a one-off project with a clear brief, a freelancer is usually the right call. If it's recurring work that has to happen every week, whether or not you're paying attention, a managed VA or an employee makes more sense. And if you need someone physically present, you need an employee.

For most owners doing 10 to 20 hours a week of admin themselves, the maths is simple: that time is worth more spent on clients or growth than on an inbox.