Virtual assistant pricing in 2026 ranges from $9.55 to $65 an hour once every published plan converts to an hourly basis. That spread reaches nearly seven times on one job title. The largest freelance marketplace puts the median at $13 an hour, while a U.S. managed service bills $2,600 a month for 40 hours.
We pulled the live pricing page of every general market provider that publishes one. We converted each weekly and monthly plan to an hourly figure so the routes compare on a level playing field. Federal compensation data then priced the in-house seat against them. Every number traces to the page that printed it, and we left out anything we couldn’t confirm. What follows opens on the market band, then works down to the fees that never appear in a quoted rate.
Key Takeaways
- Published virtual assistant rates span $9.55 to $65 an hour in 2026, so your sourcing route moves the invoice more than the job description does.
- A monthly retainer buys 10 to 100 hours, well short of the 173 hours a full-time seat works, so plan totals mislead until you divide them.
- Setup fees reach $450 with a matching 90-day lock-in, and one provider bills specialist work at $79 an hour.
- Employer benefits add 42.9% on top of wages, lifting a $48,310 administrative assistant into a $69,021 seat.
What the Market Charges for a Virtual Assistant in 2026
Your sourcing route sets your rate before anyone writes a job description. An offshore dedicated assistant and a U.S. managed retainer price the same inbox differently, as the table below indicates.
| Sourcing route | Published price | Hourly basis |
|---|---|---|
| Freelance marketplace, median | $13 an hour | Published median across the platform |
| Offshore dedicated, administrative | $9.55 an hour | Published, 40 hours a week |
| Healthcare-trained dedicated assistant | $10.95 an hour | Published flat rate, DocVA |
| Managed offshore team, full-time | $540 a week | $13.50 an hour (calculated) |
| U.S. managed retainer | $390 to $2,160 a month | $36 to $39 an hour (published) |
| U.S. premium retainer | $2,600 a month for 40 hours | $65 an hour (calculated) |
Key Insights:
- The $13 marketplace median sits inside the offshore dedicated band, so a freelancer costs about what a managed placement does.
- U.S. retainers price at three to seven times the offshore rate, turning one administrative seat into a $75,000 line item.
How the Billing Model Changes What You Pay
Providers sell hours four ways, and only one prints the number you pay for an hour of work. The same 40 hours produce four different invoices across these models, as our analysis below shows.
| Billing model | Published example | What the price buys | Effective hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat hourly, dedicated | $10.95 an hour | Full-time seat on hours you set | $10.95, published |
| Weekly subscription | $540 a week | 40 hours a week, billed every 4 weeks | $13.50, calculated |
| Unit subscription | $1,600 a unit a month | 55 hours of support a month | $29.09, calculated |
| Monthly hour block | $1,480 a month | 40 hours a month | $37.00, published |
| Monthly hour block | $1,699 a month | 45 hours a month | $37.76, calculated |
| Monthly hour block, premium | $2,600 a month | 40 hours a month | $65.00, calculated |
| Per request | $55 a month | 5 requests, each up to 20 minutes | $11.00 a request |
Key Insights:
- Two of the seven rows publish an hourly number, so most quotes need dividing before you can compare two offers.
- A per-request plan prices a 20-minute cap at $11, which reaches $33 an hour for work that fills the window.
What a Full-Time Seat Costs Across Published Plans
A full-time seat works about 173 hours a month, and most retainer plans stop well below that. We compare each plan to the hours it includes, which separates a real seat from a block of hours, as the table below shows.
| Provider and plan | Published price | Hours included each month | Annual cost of that plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Offshore administrative, full time | $9.55 an hour | About 173 | $19,864 (calculated) |
| DocVA, flat hourly | $10.95 an hour | About 173 | $22,776 (calculated) |
| Managed offshore, Full-time Assistant | $540 a week | About 173 | $28,080 (calculated) |
| Unit subscription, Full Time | $3,600 a month | 165 or more | $43,200 (calculated) |
| Monthly block, 45-hour plan | $1,699 a month | 45 | $20,388 (calculated) |
| Premium block, 100-hour plan | $6,500 a month | 100 | $78,000 (calculated) |
Key Insights:
- A $20,388 retainer undercuts a $22,776 full-time seat and delivers 45 hours a month against 173.
- Two of the six plans never reach full-time hours, so a growing workload forces a second provider.
The Fees That Sit Outside the Hourly Rate
A rate card answers one question, and the signup terms answer the rest. We pulled every charge and restriction that lands outside the quoted hour, as our data indicates below.
| Term outside the hourly rate | What the provider publishes |
|---|---|
| Setup fee at signing | $450, paired with a 3-month lock-in period |
| Setup fee, first month | $250, waived on a one-year agreement |
| Minimum commitment | 90 days for each unit purchased |
| Minimum hours | 40 hours a month for each assistant |
| Specialist task surcharge | $79 an hour on project and design work |
| Card payment fee | 2.9% on credit card payments |
| Unused hours, one retainer | No rollover and no proration |
| Unused hours, another retainer | Roll into the next month |
Key Insights:
- A $450 setup fee lands on the first invoice, and the matching lock-in removes your exit for 90 days.
- Two retainers treat unused hours differently, so identical usage produces different annual spend.
The In-House Assistant Your Business Would Otherwise Hire
Payroll shows you a wage, and that wage understates the seat by more than 40 cents on the dollar. Federal data prices what an administrative hire costs before the first task lands, as the table below shows.
| Cost benchmark | Figure |
|---|---|
| Median annual wage, secretaries and administrative assistants | $48,310 |
| Median annual wage, executive administrative assistants | $76,590 |
| Employer benefit cost, private industry | $14.07 an hour, 30.0% of compensation |
| Benefit load on top of wages (calculated) | 42.9% |
| Fully loaded annual cost, one administrative assistant (calculated) | $69,021 |
| Median time to fill a nonexecutive position | 39 calendar days |
| Dedicated assistant at $10.95 for 2,080 hours | $22,776 |
| Annual difference (calculated) | $46,245 lower, 67% |
Key Insights:
- Every $1.00 of wage costs an employer $1.43, putting a four-seat budget written at wages about $83,000 short.
- A 39-day median search leaves the desk unstaffed for six weeks before anyone starts.
Further Reading
About This Report
This report was created for DocVA.
