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Most guides to hiring a virtual assistant are lists of websites. The website is the easy part. What decides whether a VA saves you time is the route you choose, how you vet, and what you hand over in the first month. This guide covers all three, with current prices from the providers’ own pages.
The Short Answer
- Write down the work you want gone: the tasks, the hours a week, and which accounts it touches.
- Pick a route: a freelance marketplace if the work is defined and you have time to screen, a US-based VA service for part-time support with matching done for you, or a managed offshore provider for a full-time, dedicated assistant.
- Vet with a structured interview and a short paid work sample, not a résumé and a chat.
- Onboard with proper access and a written list of priorities for the first 30 days.
If you are still deciding whether to hire at all, start with should I hire a virtual assistant.
Step 1: Decide What You Need
List what you would hand over if someone started on Monday. Then sort it.
- Task work: data entry, research, scheduling posts, inbox filtering, travel booking. Clear instructions, easy to check. A part-time VA or freelancer can handle it.
- Ownership work: running your calendar and inbox, following up with clients, managing projects, preparing you for meetings. It needs judgment, context and access to sensitive accounts. This is closer to an executive assistant.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics draws the same line: administrative assistants schedule, handle mail and maintain records, while executive assistants also review documents, research and prepare reports for senior leaders. Our guide to executive assistant vs virtual assistant goes deeper, and tasks to outsource to a virtual assistant has a starter list.
Then estimate hours. Under 10 hours a week points to a freelancer or a small plan. A full day of work, every day, points to a full-time hire.
Step 2: Where to Look
Freelance Marketplaces
Upwork and Fiverr give you the widest choice and the lowest rates, and you do the vetting. On Upwork you post a job, review proposals and interview; its tools include identity verification, hourly tracking and Top Rated badges. On Fiverr you buy defined services (gigs) at a listed price. Marketplaces suit well-defined tasks when you have time to screen and manage. Our virtual assistant vs freelancer guide covers the trade-offs.
US-Based VA Services
Services such as Time Etc, Boldly and BELAY match you with a vetted assistant, usually US-based, and sell blocks of hours each month. You skip the screening and get a replacement if the match does not work, at a higher hourly price. They suit part-time support in US hours. For BELAY specifically, see BELAY alternatives.
Managed Offshore Providers
A managed provider recruits and vets the assistant in another country, handles payroll, benefits and HR, and stays involved after the match. Oceans, for example, places full-time, dedicated assistants based in Sri Lanka: it accepts about 1% of applicants, typically matches in about two weeks, and rematches for free if the first match is not right. This route suits a full-time role at a lower monthly cost than US-based hours, if 4 to 5 hours of daily overlap in your time zone is enough (Oceans’ typical pattern). Compare providers in best virtual assistant companies.
Step 3: What It Costs
| Route | Typical price | Who vets | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upwork | $10 to $20/hr, plus fees | You | Defined tasks |
| Fiverr | Per gig, plus fees | You | One-off deliverables |
| Time Etc | $36 to $39/hr | Provider | Light US support |
| Boldly | $65/hr, plans from 40 h | Provider | Part-time US EA |
| BELAY | Custom, from 45 h/mo | Provider | Fractional US support |
| Oceans | Starting at $3K/mo | Provider | Full-time, dedicated |
What the numbers mean:
- Marketplaces add fees. Upwork’s client pricing page lists a 5% marketplace fee on the Basic plan (3% for eligible US clients paying by bank account) plus a one-time contract fee of $0.99 to $14.99. Fiverr adds a 5.5% service fee to each purchase, plus $3.50 on orders under $200.
- US services publish hour blocks. Time Etc lists 10 hours for $390 up to 60 hours for $2,160 a month. Boldly lists 40 hours for $2,600 up to 100 hours for $6,500. BELAY quotes a flat monthly fee after a call.
- The US benchmark. The median US wage for administrative assistants was $22.86 an hour ($47,540 a year) in May 2025, and $36.82 an hour ($76,590) for executive assistants. Benefits add to that: they made up 30% of private-industry employer costs in June 2026.
The cheapest hourly rate is not always the cheapest hire. Your own time spent briefing, checking and re-explaining is part of the cost. Our virtual assistant cost and cheap virtual assistants guides work through the math.
Step 4: How to Vet a Virtual Assistant
Personnel research is clear on what works. A 2022 review of selection methods by Paul Sackett and colleagues in the Journal of Applied Psychology found structured interviews were the strongest common predictor of job performance (validity of .42), with work sample tests at .33 and unstructured interviews at only .19. In practice:
- Structured interview. Ask every candidate the same questions, tied to the real job, and score answers against a written standard. For example: “Walk me through how you would clear a 300-email inbox on day one” or “Two meetings you have scheduled now clash; what do you do?” Our interview questions guide has a full set.
- Paid work sample. Give a one- to two-hour task that mirrors the job: triage a sample inbox, build a travel itinerary from a messy email thread, or clean a spreadsheet. Pay for it.
- Written communication check. Ask for a short written summary of the task. A VA who works async lives in writing.
- References. Speak to someone they supported for at least six months.
If you go through a service or managed provider, ask how they screen and what happens if the match does not work. Oceans’ process is described on how we hire, and our guide on how to vet a remote executive assistant covers the freelancer trap in more detail.
Step 5: Contractor or Employee?
If you hire a freelancer directly, classification matters. The IRS looks at three areas to decide whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor: behavioral control, financial control and the type of relationship. The Department of Labor applies an “economic reality” test under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and proposed a revised rule in February 2026 that was not final as of November 2026. Misclassifying an employee as a contractor can leave a business liable for employment taxes.
With a provider, you sign a contract with the provider rather than the individual, and the provider handles payroll, benefits and HR. With a marketplace, the classification question stays with you. Get advice if you are unsure, especially if the person works only for you, on your schedule and with your tools.
Step 6: The First 30 Days
A VA hire that is not working usually shows it in the first month, and unclear priorities and blocked access are common causes. A simple plan:
- Week 1: set up access without sharing passwords (Gmail or Outlook delegation, calendar sharing, a password manager vault). Agree on how and when you will communicate. See our guide to security and compliance for offshore hires.
- Week 2: hand over one recurring workflow end to end, such as calendar management, with a written checklist.
- Weeks 3 and 4: add the next workflow, and hold a 15-minute review at the end of each week.
By day 30 you should know whether the hire is saving you time. Our remote onboarding playbook and 30-day training plan cover it step by step. If you would rather start with a full-time, managed assistant, see hiring an executive assistant with Oceans.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to hire a virtual assistant?
It depends on the route. Upwork says hiring a virtual assistant through its marketplace generally costs $10 to $20 an hour, plus fees. US-based services such as Time Etc and Boldly publish $36 to $65 an hour. A full-time, managed assistant through Oceans starts at $3,000 a month.
Where is the best place to hire a virtual assistant?
For defined tasks and if you have time to screen, a freelance marketplace such as Upwork. For part-time support in US hours, a US-based service such as Time Etc or Boldly. For a full-time, dedicated assistant at a lower monthly cost than full-time US-based hours, a managed offshore provider such as Oceans.
Should I hire a freelance virtual assistant or go through an agency?
A freelancer costs less per hour, but you handle the vetting, management and replacement yourself. An agency or managed provider screens candidates, replaces a poor match and handles payroll, benefits and HR, at a higher price per hour or month.
How do I vet a virtual assistant before hiring?
Use a structured interview with the same job-related questions for every candidate, plus a short paid work sample that mirrors the real work. Research by Sackett and colleagues (2022) ranks structured interviews as the strongest common predictor of job performance.
Is a virtual assistant an employee or an independent contractor?
It depends on the relationship. The IRS looks at behavioral control, financial control and the type of relationship, and the Department of Labor applies an economic reality test. If you hire through a provider, you contract with the provider, which handles payroll, benefits and HR.
Sources and Methodology
Provider prices and terms come from each provider’s own site, read November 3, 2026. Prices change; check before buying.
- Upwork, hire virtual assistants ($10 to $20 an hour) and client pricing (marketplace and contract initiation fees).
- Fiverr Help Center, managing payments and billing (buyer service fee).
- Time Etc, plans and pricing; Boldly, pricing; BELAY, FAQ.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (occupations 43-6014 and 43-6011), released May 15, 2026; Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026, released September 9, 2026; Occupational Outlook Handbook: Secretaries and Administrative Assistants.
- Sackett, P. R., Zhang, C., Berry, C. M., and Lievens, F. (2022), “Revisiting meta-analytic estimates of validity in personnel selection: Addressing systematic overcorrection for restriction of range”, Journal of Applied Psychology, 107(11), 2040 to 2068.
- IRS, independent contractor or employee; US Department of Labor, misclassification and 2026 proposed rule.
- Oceans, homepage FAQ (working hours), how we hire and executive assistants.
