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See how business ops EA support stacks up against on-demand personal assistance on pricing, talent, and scalability.
The top global founders and companies scale with Oceans.
If you're comparing Oceans and Magic, you're likely trying to solve the same core problem: get quality support without the overhead of traditional hiring. But these two services are built around fundamentally different models—and understanding that distinction will save you from choosing the wrong one.
Oceans places university-educated professionals with Fortune 500 backgrounds into business operations EA+ roles—with a path to scale into marketing, finance, and operations. Magic is designed for speed and convenience: clear weekly pricing, quick starts, on-demand options like "Magic 24/7," and a flexible model that handles a mix of personal and professional tasks.
Here's how they actually compare.
Quick Snapshot: Oceans vs. Magic
The Core Difference: Business Operations EA vs. On-Demand Personal Assistant
This is the most important distinction between these two services—and most comparison articles miss it.
Magic's model is built for flexible task execution across personal and professional needs. According to their website, Magic handles everything from calendar management and travel booking to personal errands, research, and data entry. Their "Magic 24/7" option provides shared, on-demand help for urgent or off-hours requests. It works if you need a catch-all assistant who can field a mix of personal and professional tasks as they come up.
Oceans' model is built for business operations. Our EAs are trained to manage projects, coordinate between teams, build operational systems, track deliverables, produce reporting, and create documentation that makes your business run smoother. They come with AI workflow training so they can automate recurring processes and systematize execution over time.
The practical difference:
• Need someone to handle a rotating mix of personal errands, scheduling, and ad-hoc research? → Magic's flexibility and on-demand options are designed for that.
• Need someone embedded in your business who manages your ops cadence, coordinates teams, builds SOPs, and grows into a multi-functional role? → That's what Oceans is built for.
Both are real needs. Choosing the wrong model for your actual need is where buyers go wrong.
Pricing and Commitment
Magic: Transparent Weekly Plans
Magic publishes clear weekly pricing. You can choose:
• A dedicated part-time assistant
• A dedicated full-time assistant
• Magic 24/7 (shared, on-demand help)
Plans are billed weekly with no long-term contract required. It's designed to be easy to start and easy to change.
Oceans: Starting at $3,000/mo Based on Role and Seniority
At Oceans, pricing starts at $3,000 per month based on the role and seniority level. An EA+ handling calendar and inbox management is at a different point in that range than a senior hire managing business operations or a specialized marketing role.
We start with a 3-month trial because the goal isn't short-term task relief—it's long-term integration that compounds.
Your investment includes:
• A university-educated professional with corporate-grade experience
• AI workflow training built into onboarding
• A Pod Leader who oversees quality
• An Account Manager who helps you scale
• A path to expand across functions without switching providers
Bottom line: If you want pricing upfront before a call, Magic makes that easy. If you want a business operations partner priced around the actual role scope and seniority level, Oceans provides that after a short discovery call.
Talent Quality and Vetting
Oceans: University-Educated Professionals with Corporate Backgrounds
At Oceans, we recruit from a pool of university-educated professionals—many trained in the British-style education system and holding credentials from internationally recognized institutions. A meaningful portion bring corporate backgrounds at organizations like Ogilvy, KPMG, and other Fortune 500 companies, along with international work or study-abroad experience.
The hiring approach includes:
• A 6-stage selection process with third-party skill assessments
• Personality and work-style alignment testing
• English fluency verification
• A month-long in-person training program before placement—covering AI workflows, communication standards, and proactive execution frameworks
Our selection process accepts fewer than 5% of applicants. The result: an 86% first-match success rate.
This isn't "virtual assistant" talent. These are professionals with the education, experience, and polish to operate as genuine business partners.
Magic: Multi-Step Screening + Training
Magic describes a structured hiring approach that includes:
• Screening for communication and remote-readiness
• In-house training
• Ongoing coaching and support
• Replacement and handoff support as part of the model
Magic's process prioritizes speed and flexibility—getting you an assistant quickly with managed support.
Practical takeaway: Both aim to reduce hiring risk, but the depth of investment is different. Oceans runs a 6-stage selection process, accepts fewer than 5% of applicants, and puts every hire through a month-long in-person training program before placement—resulting in an 86% first-match success rate. Magic prioritizes fast matching with in-house training and replacement support as a safety net.
How Support Actually Shows Up Day-to-Day
Why this matters: If your biggest pain is "I need help right now with a mix of personal and professional tasks," Magic's speed and on-demand model is built for that. If your pain is "I need someone to run business operations with me and build systems that compound," Oceans' model is the better investment. Book a call to explore which approach fits.
Role Range and Growth Potential
This is where the difference gets obvious.
At Oceans, we help clients hire across:
• Executive Assistant+ (EA+)
• Marketing support
• Finance support
• Operations + project management
• AI-enabled EA (EA + AI workflow specialist)
Magic positions their assistants to handle a broad set of tasks—executive admin, personal errands, research, data work—and offers a "Teams" product for scaling. But Magic's model is designed around flexible task execution, not building dedicated functional teams.
Many Oceans clients start with one Diver, then add 5–10+ across departments as the business grows. That scaling path—from one EA+ to a full offshore team—is core to how Oceans works.
Choosing the Right Fit
Choose Oceans if you want:
• A business operations EA who manages projects, coordinates teams, and builds systems—not just completes personal tasks
• University-educated professionals with Fortune 500 experience and international credentials
• An EA trained in AI workflows who can systematize execution over time
• A Pod Leader + Account Manager support layer
• The option to scale into a full offshore team across marketing, finance, and ops
• A model designed for compounding operational leverage
Choose Magic if you want:
• Clear weekly pricing and fast setup with no long-term contract
• Flexible support that covers personal tasks, scheduling, errands, and ad-hoc requests alongside business work
• On-demand coverage through Magic 24/7 for urgent or off-hours needs
• Easy plan changes as your needs shift
• A quick way to add capacity without a long onboarding runway
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Oceans more "hands-on" than Magic?
Yes. Oceans is structured around deeper integration—long-term partnership, proactive business operations execution, and building repeatable systems. Magic is a better fit when you want speed, flexibility, and plan-based billing for a mix of personal and professional tasks.
Which one is faster to start with?
Magic is generally faster, with published plans and rapid matching. Oceans takes about two weeks from discovery to deployment. From there, we run a structured 90-day integration runway—not because it takes 90 days to start working, but because that optimization period turns a good hire into a high-performing long-term partnership.
Do I get a dedicated assistant with both services?
With Oceans, your Diver works exclusively with you. With Magic, you can choose a dedicated assistant plan, or use their shared on-demand pool (Magic 24/7) for flexible coverage.
Can I build a team (not just one assistant)?
Yes with both—but the intent differs. Oceans is built specifically for scaling into multi-function teams across operations, finance, and marketing with university-educated professionals. Magic can add assistants through their Teams offering, but Oceans is more explicitly "team-building by design."
What if the assistant isn't the right fit?
Oceans supports free rematching and invests heavily in matching upfront to reduce mismatch risk (86% first-match success rate). Magic also provides replacement and handoff support so work continues without a complete reset.
Which is better if I need after-hours coverage?
If after-hours and urgent personal requests are frequent, Magic's on-demand model (Magic 24/7) is directly aligned with that need. Oceans can support different schedules, but our model is optimized for structured business operations support.
Who should choose Oceans over Magic?
If you need someone embedded in your business operations—managing projects, coordinating teams, building SOPs, and scaling into multiple functions—Oceans is the stronger long-term choice. If your needs are primarily personal productivity and on-demand task execution, Magic's flexibility may serve you better.
