Short answer: a virtual assistant costs anywhere from under $5 an hour for a full-time offshore assistant through an agency to well over $40 an hour for an experienced US-based executive assistant. For comparison, a median in-house administrative assistant in the US costs an employer about $69,000 a year once benefits are included, or about $33 an hour.
The right price depends on three things: where the assistant is based, how experienced they are, and whether you hire them directly or through an agency that recruits, trains and manages them. This guide shows what each option costs, with the arithmetic, so you can compare quotes properly.
Virtual assistant costs at a glance
| Option | Typical cost | What you manage yourself |
|---|---|---|
| Freelance VA, offshore | The lowest hourly rates | Hiring, training, cover, quality |
| Agency VA, offshore | Low; full-time can be under $5 an hour | Day-to-day direction only |
| Freelance VA, US-based | Usually above an employee's hourly wage, since freelancers cover their own taxes and benefits | Hiring, training, cover, quality |
| In-house assistant (US) | About $33 an hour with benefits for an administrative assistant, about $52 for an executive assistant, at the median | Everything, plus payroll, equipment and office space |
| Agency VA, US-based | The highest hourly rates, covering the assistant, the agency's management and cover | Day-to-day direction only |
Freelance and agency rates vary widely, so get quotes for the specific skills and hours you need. The in-house figures are worked out below from US government data.
What an in-house assistant really costs
Comparing a VA's hourly rate with an employee's salary understates what the employee costs. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for secretaries and administrative assistants was $48,310 a year, or $23.23 an hour, in May 2025. Executive assistants earned a median of $76,590.
On top of wages, employers pay for benefits such as health insurance, paid leave, retirement contributions and payroll taxes. In June 2026, benefits made up 30% of private employers' total compensation costs, according to the BLS. Applying that average:
| Role | Median wage | Estimated total cost with benefits | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative assistant | $48,310 a year | About $69,000 a year | About $5,750 |
| Executive assistant | $76,590 a year | About $109,000 a year | About $9,100 |
That still leaves out recruiting, equipment, software, office space and the cost of covering holidays and sick days. None of this means an in-house assistant is a bad choice. Someone in the office every day has advantages a remote assistant cannot match. But it is the right number to compare a VA quote against.
Freelance or agency?
Hiring a freelancer directly
Freelance marketplaces let you hire a VA by the hour, often with no long-term commitment. You get full control over who you hire and what you pay. You also take on everything else: writing the job post, interviewing, training, checking quality, and finding a replacement if they leave or get sick.
Using a VA agency
An agency recruits, vets and trains the assistant, manages their performance and provides cover when they are away. You pay a little more than you would pay the same person directly, but you spend far less of your own time on it. For a busy founder, that time is usually the point of hiring a VA in the first place.
What affects the price
- Location. The biggest factor. Assistants in countries with lower living costs charge a fraction of US rates for the same hours.
- Skills. Inbox and calendar management costs less than bookkeeping, CRM administration, research or writing proposals.
- Hours and commitment. Full-time assistants usually cost less per hour than ad-hoc hourly help. Part-time and on-demand packages carry a premium.
- Time zone overlap. Working your business hours, rather than overnight, can cost more but matters for live tasks such as answering calls.
- Tools and AI support. Assistants who work alongside AI tools for drafting, summarising and triage can get through more work in the same hours.
How much should you pay for a virtual assistant?
Start from the work, not the rate. List the tasks you want to hand over and estimate the hours each takes a week. Routine admin such as inbox triage, scheduling and data entry does not need an expensive specialist. Tasks that touch clients, money or your reputation are worth paying more for.
Then compare the total monthly cost of each option, including your own time spent managing it. A cheaper freelancer who needs an hour of your attention every day can cost more overall than an agency assistant who needs ten minutes.
Is a virtual assistant worth it?
Work out what an hour of your time is worth, then multiply by the hours a VA would free up. If you would spend 15 hours a week on admin and your time is worth $100 an hour to the business, that is $1,500 a week of your time going into tasks someone else could do. Even a US-based VA costs far less than that. The return only appears if you put the freed-up time into work that grows the business, rather than filling it with more admin.
Is there a free virtual assistant?
Not a person, no. AI assistants built into email, calendar and office software can draft replies, summarise threads and suggest meeting times, and some have free tiers. They are useful for individual tasks, but they do not take ownership of work the way a person does: chasing replies, noticing what has been missed, and handling the exceptions. Many businesses now use both, with a human assistant using AI tools to work faster.
Virtual assistants at Orbital
Our virtual assistants are trained executive assistants who work alongside our own AI agents. They handle inbox and calendar management, meeting scheduling and follow-ups, CRM updates, research, briefing memos and proposals, and travel and expenses. A full-time assistant costs $750 a month, which works out to under $5 an hour. That is possible because our delivery team is based in Pakistan, and we keep overlap hours with your working day.
See our virtual assistant services for what is included, or try the cost calculator to compare it with the other services you need. If you need more than one person covering support, data entry or finance tasks, our BPO services provide a managed back-office team.