A virtual assistant costs $480 to $2,000 a month full time if you hire one yourself in the Philippines. Through a service that does the hiring for you, expect about $600 to $3,000 a month. A US-based assistant runs $35 to $65 an hour. On top of the rate you pay fees, bonuses and raises, and you spend your own time training the person and checking their work.
These are the published prices, read from each company's own pricing page on October 24, 2026. Treat them as starting points, since a quote depends on the hours and the person.
| How you hire | Company | Published price | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hire directly in the Philippines | OnlineJobs.ph salary guide | $480 to $2,000 a month | Full time, beginner to expert |
| Managed, offshore | Cherry Assistant | $597, $897 or $1,697 a month | 10, 20 or 40 hours a week |
| Managed | Wing Assistant | $699 or $999 a month | 80 or 160 hours a month |
| Managed, global hires | Assistantly | $2,500 to $3,000 a month | Most full-time roles |
| Managed | Prialto | From $1,500 a month | 55 hours a month |
| US-based, by the hour | The Boutique COO | $35 an hour | No minimum |
| US-based | Time Etc | $390 to $2,160 a month | 10 to 60 hours a month |
| US-based staff | Boldly | $2,600 to $6,500 a month | 40 to 100 hours a month |
How much does a virtual assistant cost per month?
A full-time VA you hire yourself in the Philippines costs $480 to $900 a month as a beginner, $800 to $1,100 with some experience and $1,200 to $2,000 as an expert, according to the OnlineJobs.ph salary guide, last updated in April 2026. Part-time plans from a service start at $390 a month for 10 hours at Time Etc.
By the hour, the gap is wide. OnlineJobs.ph puts a beginner VA in the Philippines at $3 to $5 an hour and an expert at $10 to $12. For most roles it suggests offering $4 to $7 an hour to start. US-based services cost far more: $35 an hour at The Boutique COO, $36 to $39 an hour on Time Etc's plans, and $65 an hour on Boldly's 40-hour plan.
Where the person lives sets most of the price. Who employs them comes next. If you hire someone yourself, you handle the contract, the pay and finding a replacement when they leave. A managed service charges more because it takes that work on. Wing lists a customer success manager and a free replacement on both of its plans. Cherry Assistant handles payroll and compliance, and Assistantly's price includes the person's health coverage, paid time off and payroll in their own country.
What costs come on top of a virtual assistant's rate?
The rate is what you pay the person or the service. On top of it come the costs of finding someone, paying them across borders and keeping them, plus your own hours spent training them and checking their work. Some of those lines are small, and your own time is the one no price page shows.
- Finding them. A free OnlineJobs.ph account can't contact or hire anyone. That takes the Pro plan at $69 a month or Premium at $99. Cherry Assistant charges $3,000 per placement if you want it to recruit someone you then employ yourself. Prialto adds a $250 setup fee in the first month, waived if you sign for a year.
- Paying them. OnlineJobs.ph's salary figures leave out banking and exchange-rate fees, which depend on how you send the money. Boldly adds a 2.9% fee if you pay by credit card instead of bank debit.
- Keeping them. OnlineJobs.ph notes that many employers give their VA a 13th-month bonus, one extra month's pay a year, which is a common practice in the Philippines. Its own team gives raises of $25 to $100 a month once a year. It also warns that underpaying leads to turnover, and every departure means hiring and training again.
- Minimum terms. Prialto has a 90-day minimum. Boldly needs at least 40 hours a month per assistant. Time Etc and Cherry Assistant let you cancel any month, and The Boutique COO has no minimum at all.
- Training and checking. OnlineJobs.ph tells employers to expect to train a beginner. Every hour you spend explaining a task, answering questions or redoing work is part of the price.
Michelle, who runs a small business and now uses two of our agents, described that last cost in a Google review, writing about the finance help she had hired before:
I've hired many "finance experts" and bookkeepers, TBH, they are expensive I'm exhausted having to audit their reports.
How do you work out what a VA really costs you each month?
Add up all seven lines below. Fill in the right-hand column with your own numbers. The example uses an experienced VA hired through OnlineJobs.ph at $1,000 a month, which is inside its guide's $800 to $1,100 range, and an example value for an hour of your time.
| Line | How to work it out | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Pay | The monthly rate you agreed | $1,000 |
| 13th-month bonus | One month's pay a year, divided by 12 | $83 |
| Raises | Add each year's raise to the pay line | $25 to $100 more a month after a year |
| Transfer and exchange fees | Your payment provider's fees | Check your provider |
| Finding them | Job board months or a placement fee, spread over how long they stay | $69 in each month you are hiring |
| Your time | Hours a month training and checking, times what your hour is worth | 5 hours at $75 = $375 |
| Replacing them | Your hours to post, interview and train again when someone leaves | Your estimate |
In the example, the VA costs $1,458 a month before fees and hiring costs, and $375 of that is the owner's own time. Put in your own hours and what an hour of yours is worth. If you leave that line out, a VA will look cheaper than it is.
The same worksheet works for an AI agent: the build cost spread over the months you will use it, the monthly fee, model usage, and your time checking its work. Our AI agent ROI calculator does that arithmetic for a role you pick.
Which virtual assistant jobs can an AI agent take?
An AI agent can take VA work that repeats, follows the same steps each time and happens in software it can log into. That covers sorting email, a morning rundown of the day, a list of overdue invoices and research before a call. It should draft anything that goes out in your name. Calls and judgment calls stay with a person.
The table splits it by job and shows how our own agents at VantaSoft handle the same work.
| VA job | What an agent can do | What stays with a person | How our agents do it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inbox | Sort new email, flag what's urgent, draft replies | Sending replies to customers and prospects | Vance sorts our CEO's email twice an hour |
| Calendar and meeting prep | Send a rundown of the day, prepare notes for each meeting | Moving a meeting a client cares about | Vance sends a briefing every weekday morning |
| Invoices and expenses | Sort card charges, list overdue invoices, draft reminders | Paying anyone | Graham sorts new card charges every morning and lists past-due invoices every Monday |
| Research | Look up a company or person before a call | Deciding who is worth contacting | Taylor researches each day's sales calls every morning |
| Copying details between systems | Move information between tools it has a login to | Tools it has no login to | Depends on your tools |
| Phone calls | Not a job for this kind of agent | A person, or a service built to answer calls | None of our agents answer the phone |
Each of those agents has a person who approves the steps that matter. Replies to customers and prospects wait until an owner approves that specific message. Graham can see the books, but paying anyone is a person's decision. If you are drawing the same lines for your own business, human in the loop for AI agents goes through them one action at a time.
Our customers hand agents the same kind of work. Kayla runs three of our agents and described one of them in a Google review:
We run three VantaSoft agents in Slack. One is my assistant- drafts my email, preps my meetings, and tracks what I committed to in them.
The rest of our agents, and when each one runs, are listed in 13 real AI agent examples and the jobs they do.
When is a virtual assistant the better hire?
Hire a person when the job is mostly talking to people, changes every week, or lives in tools an agent can't log into. A good VA can learn a messy job by watching you work. An agent needs the job written down first: what starts it, what it should produce, and where you want to approve.
- Phone calls and live conversations, above all with an unhappy customer.
- One-off projects and work that changes from week to week. Building an agent pays off on work that repeats.
- Work in a system you can't or won't give an agent a login to.
- Anything sent in your name that you don't want to approve message by message.
Some of this we learned on our own agents. We have taken five jobs back from them. One hung on a deadline the agent couldn't see, and another acted in an owner's name. All five are written up in when to use AI agents and when not to.
You don't have to pick one. An agent can take the checklist work, so the hours you pay a VA for go to calls and the jobs that need a person.
How much does an AI agent cost compared with a virtual assistant?
At VantaSoft, the build starts at $1,000 one time and hosting and maintenance start at $200 a month, as listed on our pricing page on October 24, 2026. Model usage comes on top and grows with how much work the agent does. The build covers an agent made around your own jobs and tools, plus three coaching sessions for your team.
Cheaper AI options exist, and they buy something different. A chat subscription is a tool your team still has to point at each job. Ready-made AI apps sit in between: Marblism, for example, lists seven AI employees, an executive assistant among them, from $24 a month billed yearly. Every plan gets the same seven roles. We lay out all four ways to get an AI agent, with what each costs, in AI agents for business, and where a chat tool stops being enough in AI assistant for business: where it stops.
The fair comparison is the full monthly cost of each, so run the agent through the same seven-line worksheet as the VA. Our guide to what an AI agent costs breaks down every cost line, including the ones vendors leave out.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a Filipino virtual assistant cost?
The OnlineJobs.ph salary guide, updated April 2026, puts a full-time VA at $480 to $900 a month for a beginner, $800 to $1,100 with experience and $1,200 to $2,000 for an expert. By the hour that is $3 to $5, $6 to $9 and $10 to $12. For most roles it suggests starting around $4 to $7 an hour.
How much does a virtual assistant cost per hour?
It runs from $3 an hour for a beginner hired directly in the Philippines to about $65 an hour for a US-based assistant employed by an agency. The US services in our price table charge $35 to $39 an hour on their published plans, and Boldly's 40-hour plan works out to $65.
Is a VA through an agency worth the extra cost?
It is when you would otherwise spend those hours yourself. An agency recruits the person, handles the pay and the contract, and finds a replacement if they leave. Wing and Cherry Assistant both list replacement on their plans. If you already have time to hire and manage someone, hiring directly costs less.
Can an AI agent replace a virtual assistant?
It can take part of the job. An agent handles recurring work in software it can log into, such as sorting email, a daily briefing, overdue invoice lists and research before calls. A person is still the better choice for phone calls, judgment calls and work that changes every week. You can use both.
Where to start
Write down one recurring job your VA does now, or one you would hire a VA for. Note what starts it, what it should produce, and where you want to approve. If it repeats and happens in software, an agent can likely take it. If you want us to build it, connect it to your tools and keep it running, you can start automating with 30 minutes on your workflows.
