Virtual Assistant Services: What You Get, Plans and Prices
Virtual assistant services give your business remote help with recurring work: email, calendar, customer messages, bookkeeping support, CRM updates, research, social media and the admin that fills your week. You pay for skilled time without adding a local employee, a desk or a recruitment process.
The phrase covers very different products, though. It can mean a shared pool of people, a freelancer on a marketplace, an hourly retainer, or one dedicated person who works only for you. Those options differ more than the sales pages suggest, and picking the wrong one is how most people end up disappointed.
I run Virtual Assistant Capital, where we match businesses with dedicated virtual assistants, so you know which model I sell. This guide explains all of them, what each kind of assistant does, what the plans cost, and how to choose the service that fits your work.
What virtual assistant services include
Most providers group their services into a handful of areas. A good assistant usually covers one or two of these well, so ask who will actually do your work and not just what the company can do.
| Service | Typical tasks | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Administrative | Inbox, calendar, travel, data entry, documents | Founders and busy professionals |
| Executive support | Diary, meeting preparation, stakeholder follow-up | CEOs and senior leaders |
| Customer service | Email, chat, phone, order questions | Online stores and service firms |
| Bookkeeping support | Invoices, receipts, bank coding, overdue chasing | Small businesses and accounting firms |
| Sales support | Lead lists, CRM upkeep, appointment setting | Sales teams and agencies |
| Marketing support | Social scheduling, content formatting, email campaigns | Coaches, creators and agencies |
| Industry support | Real estate, legal, dental, insurance and mortgage admin | Regulated or specialist firms |
| Automation and AI | Workflow building, AI tool management, reporting | Teams with repeatable processes |
For a closer look at the role, read what a virtual assistant does. If you already know your area, our specialist pages cover administrative support, executive support, customer service, bookkeeping, real estate and law firms.
The four ways to buy virtual assistant services
The service list matters less than the delivery model. The same task feels very different depending on who does it and how you pay.
| Model | How it works | Best for | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freelance marketplace | You post, screen and manage the person yourself | One-off projects and tight budgets | Vetting and replacement are your job |
| Shared pool | A team handles requests in a queue | Occasional, simple tasks | You may rarely get the same person |
| Hourly retainer | You buy a block of hours each month | Light, steady work | Costs can rise with every extra hour |
| Dedicated assistant | One person works only for you on a monthly plan | Ongoing work that needs context | You must have enough recurring work |
Freelance marketplaces
Marketplaces give you the widest choice and usually the lowest headline rate. You also take on the whole job of hiring: writing the post, screening people, testing them, managing the work and starting again if they leave. That's a fair trade for a defined project. It's a poor one if you wanted to give away management work in the first place.
Shared pools
With a shared service, requests go to whoever is free. It works for simple tasks like booking a table or tidying a spreadsheet. It breaks down when the work depends on memory, because each person has to learn your preferences again. Our guide to dedicated vs shared virtual assistants covers the questions that expose a shared plan sold as dedicated.
Hourly retainers
Retainers suit a business with a small, predictable workload. Check what happens to unused hours, how time is tracked, whether there's a minimum term, and who does the work if your usual person is away.
Dedicated assistants
A dedicated assistant is one named person who learns your business and stays with it. This is the model we offer, and it's the one that makes sense when work repeats every week and the value builds as the assistant gets to know your clients, tools and preferences. It's the wrong choice if you only have a few hours of irregular work each month.
What virtual assistant plans cost
Prices depend on where the assistant is based, how specialised the work is, and how much of the hiring the provider takes on. On our cost guide, published ranges put freelance marketplace assistants at roughly $5 to $30 an hour plus fees, US-based executive assistants at $25 to $75 an hour, and typical agency retainers of 40 hours a month at about $1,400 to $2,800. Treat those as rough market ranges, not quotes.
Our own plans are flat and published:
| Plan | Hours | Price | Good fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials | 20 hours a week | $899 a month | First hire, admin and support work |
| Executive | Full-time | $1,599 a month | One person running your day-to-day operations |
| AI Manager | Full-time, AI-fluent | $2,599 a month | Building and running workflows with AI tools |
There's a $0 recruitment fee. You get a free shortlist of two to three assistants within 72 hours and pay only once your assistant starts. Plans are month to month, with a 30-day replacement if the fit isn't right.
To compare a plan with a local hire, use our free virtual assistant cost calculator. You enter your own local pay and employer costs, so the result reflects your market, not an assumed wage.
Virtual assistant services by market
Most of what an assistant does travels well. Three things change by country: software, working hours and regulated work.
| Market | Common software | Shared-hours note |
|---|---|---|
| US | QuickBooks, Gusto, HubSpot | Usually means an evening or night shift in India |
| Canada | QuickBooks, Xero, Wagepoint | Similar to the US, by province and time zone |
| Australia | Xero, MYOB, ServiceM8 | Falls in the Indian morning or earlier |
| New Zealand | Xero, MYOB | Falls earliest of all, so plan the overlap |
| Europe | Xero, Sage, DATEV exports | Falls in the Indian afternoon and evening |
| UK | Xero, Sage, FreeAgent | Falls in the Indian afternoon and evening |
Our time zone calculator shows your working hours in India, with daylight saving handled. We cover each market in more detail on the pages for the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the UK.
How to choose a virtual assistant service
Start with your work, not the provider. These steps take an hour and prevent most bad hires.
- List your repeat tasks. Write down what you did last week that someone else could do. Our delegation guide helps if you're stuck.
- Add up the hours. Under 5 hours a week points to a marketplace or a retainer. Around 20 hours suits a part-time dedicated assistant. If it's more, consider full-time.
- Decide who should manage. If you have no time to hire or train, avoid a model that leaves all of that with you.
- Name the skills you need. "Admin" is too broad. Say "keeps my Xero inbox clear" or "updates HubSpot after every call".
- Check your hours. Decide which tasks need live overlap and which can wait for a handover.
- Ask how access works. Good providers use password managers, separate logins and NDAs. Our security guide lists what to require.
Questions to ask any provider
The answers show quickly how a company really works.
- Will the same person do my work every day?
- Does that person work for other clients at the same time?
- Who screens candidates, and how?
- Can I interview the people on my shortlist?
- What happens if they leave or aren't a good fit?
- Are there setup fees, minimum terms or notice periods?
- What are the full monthly costs, including any payment or currency fees?
- Who owns the logins, files and documented processes?
- What can't your assistants do?
That last question is often the most useful. A serious provider has a clear line. Our assistants don't give legal, tax or financial advice, for example, and they don't file regulated returns. That work stays with your licensed adviser.
What good service looks like in the first month
You should see the benefit within weeks, though not on day one. A normal first month looks like this:
- Week 1: tool access, one or two recorded walkthroughs and a few low-risk tasks.
- Week 2: daily routines start, with a short end-of-day update.
- Week 3: the assistant owns recurring tasks and starts to document them.
- Week 4: you review what's working, then add the next piece of work.
If you're still answering the same question every day by week four, look at the handover first, then at the fit. Our onboarding guide has the full process.
When virtual assistant services aren't the answer
A virtual assistant won't suit every need. Skip it if the work must be done in person, if you need licensed advice, or if you have no repeating tasks to hand over. A virtual assistant also can't fix a process that doesn't exist yet. Write down roughly how the work should go first, even if it's messy.
For high call volumes, or support that must run all day and night, one person won't be enough. Our comparison of virtual assistants and call centers explains where the line sits.
FAQ
What are virtual assistant services?
They are remote support services in which a skilled person handles recurring work for your business, such as email, scheduling, customer messages, bookkeeping support and CRM updates. You can buy them from marketplaces, shared teams, retainers or dedicated assistant companies.
How much do virtual assistant services cost?
Published market ranges run from about $5 an hour on freelance marketplaces to $75 an hour for US-based executive support. Virtual Assistant Capital's plans start at $899 a month for 20 hours a week, and full-time starts at $1,599 a month.
What is the difference between a virtual assistant service and a freelancer?
With a service, a company usually finds, screens and replaces the assistant for you. With a freelancer, you handle all of that yourself. Our freelancer vs managed assistant guide compares them in detail.
Are virtual assistant services worth it for a small business?
They usually are if you have steady, repeatable work that takes your time away from revenue. If your work is irregular or only a few hours a month, a small project with a freelancer may suit you better. Our small business page gives examples.
Which countries do you serve?
We work with businesses in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the UK first. Our assistants are based in India.
How do I start?
Request a VA match and tell us what you need. You'll get a free shortlist of two to three assistants within 72 hours, and you pay only once your assistant starts.
The short version
Virtual assistant services are worth buying once you know which kind you need. Use a marketplace for projects, a pool or retainer for light tasks, and a dedicated assistant for steady work that benefits from context. List your tasks, count the hours, and ask the hard questions before you sign anything.
Get a free VA shortlist in 72 hours.
Tell us what you need. We send 2–3 hand-picked, vetted VAs to interview. $0 recruitment fee, and you pay nothing until your VA starts. Essentials $899/mo, Executive $1,599/mo, AI Manager $2,599/mo, month-to-month.