How Much Does a Virtual Assistant Cost in 2026?

How much does a virtual assistant cost is the first question every buyer asks and the one most pricing pages answer worst, because bargain-rate listicles mix freelancer marketplace rates with managed-service rates and hope you do not notice. This guide answers it with numbers you can re-check: every competitor figure below comes from the provider's own published pricing page, verified on July 6, 2026, and cited so you can confirm it yourself. The full provider-by-provider breakdown lives in our verified VA company pricing comparison; this page is the cost math distilled.

Virtual assistant cost is really four different questions wearing one name: which pricing model you buy (hourly, hour blocks, subscription, or per-task), where the assistant sits, whether they are dedicated to you, and how much management the provider does for you. Each one moves the number, so we take them in order.

Virtual Assistant Cost at a Glance: Verified 2026 Rates

Verified virtual assistant pricing in 2026: task plans from $35 per month (Fancy Hands), fractional US plans from $390 per month for 10 hours (Time Etc), full-time far-offshore from $1,999 per month (Wishup), premium US-based up to $65 per hour (Boldly), and nearshore dedicated at $12 to $18 per hour all-in (Call Force Global).

The table below compares published pricing across the nine providers with verifiable rates from our verified VA company pricing guide. Each figure links to the provider's own pricing page.

Belay, the largest US-based name in the category, publishes no dollar figures and quotes a flat monthly fee after a discovery call, so budget against the US-based band above rather than guessing. For the broader market data behind these bands, see our virtual assistant statistics for 2026.

The Four Pricing Models (and What Each Really Costs)

Virtual assistants are sold four ways: straight hourly (CFG $12 to $18/hr; Virtual Assist USA pay-as-you-go $47.25/hr), prepaid hour blocks ($390 to $2,379 depending on hours and provider), monthly subscriptions for dedicated assistants ($1,999 to $6,500/mo), and per-task plans from $35/mo. The model determines what an unused hour costs you.

Straight Hourly

You pay for the hours worked, nothing prepaid. At the premium end, Virtual Assist USA sells pay-as-you-go at $47.25 per hour, per its published pricing. At the nearshore end, CFG bills $12 to $18 per hour all-in, month-to-month, with supervision, QA, and replacement coverage bundled into the rate. Hourly is the lowest-commitment way to start, and the most expensive per hour at US providers because you are paying for flexibility.

Prepaid Hour Blocks

Fractional plans sell a bucket of hours per month with a dedicated assistant. Time Etc runs $390 per month for 10 hours ($39 per hour) down to $36 per hour on the 60-hour plan, per its published pricing. Zirtual runs $599 per month for 12 hours up to $1,699 for 45, roughly $38 to $50 per effective hour, per its published plans. Virtual Assist USA sells $885 for 20 hours up to $2,379 for 60. Blocks reward accurate volume forecasting: the per-hour rate falls as the block grows, but the rollover policy decides whether a slow month costs you (more on that below).

Monthly Subscription (Dedicated)

Full-time or near-full-time dedicated assistants price as a flat monthly fee. Magic charges $270 per week part-time and $540 per week full-time, which works out to $13.50 per hour, per its published pricing. Wishup runs $1,999 per month for a full-time dedicated assistant and $2,999 for its Elite tier, per its published pricing. Boldly charges $2,600 per month for 40 hours up to $6,500 for 100, a flat $65 per hour, per its published pricing. Prialto sells units of 55+ hours at $1,600 per month with full-time support from $3,600, per its published pricing. Subscriptions buy consistency; divide the fee by the hours you will actually use before comparing.

Per-Task

Task pools charge per request instead of per hour. Fancy Hands charges $35 per month for 3 requests, $55 for 5, and $125 for 15, where a request is up to 20 minutes of work, per its published pricing. For a handful of one-off errands a month, this is the cheapest legitimate answer in the market. For recurring business workflows it is the wrong tool, because no single assistant carries context between requests.

What Drives Virtual Assistant Cost

Four levers set the rate: talent location (US-based runs $36 to $65 per effective hour vs $12 to $18 nearshore), dedicated vs shared staffing, how much management the provider includes, and specialization (Boldly bills specialist work at $79/hr; niche skills push every band up).

Location

The single biggest lever. US-based services in the verified table run roughly $36 to $65 per effective hour. Far-offshore providers hiring in the Philippines and India price full-time dedicated support at $1,999 to $2,999 per month, with the trade-off that the assistant's home time zone is overnight relative to US hours and live phone work is usually out of scope. Nearshore Caribbean and Latin American assistants run $12 to $18 per hour all-in and work US Eastern hours as their normal day. The per-country wage data underneath the nearshore band is published in our Caribbean wage index, with downloadable figures by role.

Dedicated vs Shared

A dedicated assistant learns your tools, your customers, and your judgment calls, and the per-useful-hour cost drops over time because you stop re-explaining context. Shared pools like Fancy Hands are cheaper per month but reset context on every request. Fractional plans sit between: the assistant is dedicated, but you share their week with other clients.

Management Layer

Placement-only services hand you a person; managed services supervise the work. Prialto builds in an engagement manager, four weeks of training, and backup coverage, which is part of why its unit pricing carries a 90-day minimum. Boldly employs its assistants on W-2, which supports retention and shows up in the $65 rate. CFG bundles supervision, AI QA scoring on every call with human review, and replacement coverage into the $12 to $18 rate. Whichever provider you pick, an unmanaged assistant is only cheaper until the first quality problem you have to catch yourself.

Specialization

Generalist admin prices at the bottom of each band. Specialist skills price above it: Boldly bills web development, design, and project management at $79 per hour against its $65 standard rate. Industry-specific scopes (real estate transaction coordination, medical intake, legal workflows) push rates toward the top of every band, including nearshore. One scope note on CFG specifically: our assistants handle admin, intake, and front-office work as support staff; they are not licensed professionals.

Hidden Costs to Check Before Signing

The quoted rate is not the real cost. Check four things: your own management time, whether unused hours roll over (Zirtual's do not; Time Etc's roll over only at 20+ hours; Virtual Assist USA's never expire), minimum terms and setup fees (Prialto: 90-day minimum, $250 setup fee waived on a 1-year agreement), and what sits outside scope (Zirtual sells outbound calling separately at $599 to $2,999/mo).

• Management time. The line item no pricing page shows. If the provider only places the assistant, you supply the supervision, QA, and feedback loop out of your own week. Managed services price that layer in; unmanaged placements make you pay it in hours instead of dollars.
• Rollover policy. On block plans, expiring hours quietly raise your effective rate every slow month. Zirtual's unused hours do not roll over. Time Etc rolls hours over only on plans of 20 hours and up. Virtual Assist USA's hours never expire. Fancy Hands requests roll over. Ask before you size the plan, and size against your slowest month, not your busiest.
• Minimums and setup fees. Most providers on the verified list are month-to-month with no setup fee. The exception is Prialto, with a 90-day minimum per unit and a $250 setup fee, waived on a 1-year agreement. Neither is unreasonable for a managed model, but both belong in your first-quarter math.
• Scope boundaries. The cheapest way to blow a VA budget is discovering mid-engagement that the work you actually need costs extra. Zirtual sells outbound calling as a separate product at $599 to $2,999 per month rather than part of VA hours. Boldly bills specialist work at $79 per hour. Most far-offshore providers scope live phone work out entirely. If calls are the point, buy a provider that hires for voice up front.

The Nearshore Math

A nearshore dedicated assistant at $12 to $18 per hour all-in runs roughly $2,100 to $3,100 per month full time. CFG's standing comparison: from $12/hr fully loaded, save up to $37K/year per VA vs hiring onshore at $28-48/hr. The rate bundles the assistant, supervision, QA, and replacement coverage.

Here is the band CFG actually sells at, so you can hold us to the same standard as the table above. A managed nearshore assistant from Jamaica, St Lucia, Trinidad, or Colombia runs $12 to $18 per hour all-in. At a full-time 40-hour week (about 173 hours a month), that is roughly $2,100 to $3,100 per month. The rate bundles the assistant's wages, supervision, QA, and replacement coverage, with no setup fees on most placements. How the engagement is structured, and which roles fit it, is laid out on our virtual assistant services page.

Against the verified bands, the positioning is simple. From $12/hr fully loaded, the savings run up to $37K/year per VA vs hiring onshore at $28-48/hr. Boldly's $65 per hour buys three to five nearshore hours. And unlike the far-offshore providers at a similar effective rate, a Caribbean assistant works your business hours live and picks up the phone: intake, scheduling, and follow-up calls sit inside the same engagement, with every call scored by AI QA and reviewed by a human.

Nearshore is not the answer for everyone. If your compliance policy requires US persons, the US-based band is the right band, and the honest comparison of who wins each segment is in the full provider ranking. But if the question is cost per useful hour for a dedicated assistant who can work your time zone and your phones, the nearshore column wins the math in 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions