The short answer, with sources
There’s no single price for a virtual assistant, but the market is easier to read than it looks. Here’s what published pricing shows for agencies that place Philippine-based VAs, taken from a June 2026 comparison of real estate VA companies by The Close.
| Provider | Published price |
|---|---|
| TaskBullet (Philippine VAs) | $7.50 to $11 per hour |
| Virtudesk | $9.55 to $13.30 per hour, $450 setup fee, 3-month minimum |
| Brivity VA | $1,250 per month part-time (20 hrs/week), $1,750 full-time, $350 onboarding |
| MyOutDesk | From $1,988 per month |
| Transactly (transaction coordination) | From $339 per transaction |
These are real estate specialists, but the ranges are typical of Philippine VA agencies generally. Freelancers found on marketplaces can be cheaper per hour, and specialist roles like developers or SEO specialists usually cost more.
What drives the price
The role. General admin support sits at the lower end. Specialist skills such as web development, video editing, bookkeeping or SEO cost more because fewer people can do them well.
Experience. Someone who has already done your exact job for years commands a higher rate than someone learning. They also need far less of your time, which is usually the bigger cost.
Hours. Part-time plans cost less per month but often more per hour. Full-time plans reserve the person’s working day for you.
Management. A managed service, where the agency supervises, reviews work and covers absences, costs more than a placement where the VA reports only to you. You’re paying for the management layer instead of doing it yourself.
Coverage. Working US business hours means night shifts in the Philippines, which is common in the industry and usually built into the price.
The comparison that matters: in-house cost
The useful question isn’t what a VA costs. It’s what the same work costs if you hire locally. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes median wages, and its employer cost survey shows that benefits make up about 30% of total compensation for private-industry workers in June 2026. That means a salary is only about 70% of what an employee really costs.
| Role (BLS occupation) | Median US wage, May 2025 | Estimated total cost with benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Customer service representative | $44,770 | about $64,000 |
| Medical secretary or admin assistant | $45,930 | about $65,600 |
| Administrative assistant | $47,540 | about $67,900 |
| Bookkeeping clerk | $50,670 | about $72,400 |
| Executive assistant | $76,590 | about $109,400 |
Total cost here is the median wage divided by 0.70, using the BLS private-industry average. It includes legally required benefits like Social Security and unemployment insurance, but not recruiting, equipment, office space or software. Your real numbers will vary by city and role.
Compare that to the published agency prices above. The full-time monthly plans work out to roughly $21,000 to $24,000 a year, and the hourly rates come to about $15,600 to $27,700 a year at 40 hours a week. The gap is large. That gap is why so many US small businesses now hire remote Filipino support.
Costs that don’t show on the invoice
- Your time. Every hour you spend training, correcting or chasing a VA is an hour you’re not selling or leading. An experienced VA costs a little more and saves much more of this.
- Turnover. Replacing someone means repeating the hiring and training. Ask how an agency handles a bad fit and how fast they replace.
- Contracts and fees. Setup fees, minimum terms and notice periods change the real cost of trying a provider.
- Software seats. Your VA may need their own seat in your CRM, help desk or design tools.
How to budget
Start from the problem, not the price. List the tasks eating your week, estimate the hours they take, and put a value on your own hour. Our delegation ROI calculator does this math for you and shows what an in-house hire for the same work would cost.
Then decide what budget range you’re comfortable with. When you book a discovery call with Snova, we ask for that range first and show you exactly what it covers, whether that’s a part-time specialist, a full-time assistant, or a managed team.