Alternatives
AVirtual alternatives
AVirtual alternatives include UK-resident agencies (Virtalent, SmartPA, Time etc), franchise and London options (Pink Spaghetti, Designated PA), telephone answering from Moneypenny, and AssistBPO, which employs its assistants and answers calls in your name. Seven options compared on published rate, cover, phones and hours, September 2026.
· Reviewed by Nimra Khalid
- Checked on their own site
- Dated and sourced
- No ratings or rankings
Overview
AVirtual delivers UK business support with a mix of UK and South African assistants, publishes from £27 an hour and sells packages that start at around five hours a month, which puts it among the cheaper published options for UK buyers. Firms look at alternatives when they want everyone on the account in the UK, a bigger block of hours at a better unit figure, more depth in a particular sector, or cover that runs beyond UK office hours. Some want a provider that can also staff a support queue or a back office. The seven entries below describe each option plainly: what it is, who it suits and the figure it publishes, with the month checked. Where nothing is published, the entry says so. AssistBPO is listed first because this is our site, and it is written to the same standard as the rest, including its published rate card.
How does AVirtual compare with AssistBPO?
The same ten rows on every comparison page, so two providers can be read against each other without re-learning the layout.
| AssistBPO | AVirtual | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who does the work | Employees of the group on a scheduled shift, with a trained backup already on your account | A dedicated assistant drawn from a UK and South African team, with specialists behind them | avirtual.co.uk, Sep 2026 |
| Published price | Published rate card, plus a costed staffing plan within 1 business day | From £27 an hour; packages published from around five hours a month; VAT applies | avirtual.co.uk and Report §3.2, Sep 2026 |
| Where the work is done | A second office in Pakistan, scheduled to UK, US, Canadian or Australian hours | United Kingdom and South Africa | avirtual.co.uk, Sep 2026 |
| Live telephone answering | Included; the receptionist answers, transfers and places calls in your name | Virtual reception listed among the published services | avirtual.co.uk, Sep 2026 |
| Growing beyond one assistant | Front desk, support and back-office desks added as separate named people under one team lead | Specialists added from the wider team as needed | avirtual.co.uk, Sep 2026 |
AVirtual facts as published on the dates shown. The AssistBPO rate card is published too, from $400 a month, and the staffing plan is what sets where on it you land. Spotted a change? Tell us and we update the row with a new date.
Who should choose AssistBPO, and who should choose AVirtual?
Choose AssistBPO if
- You want the assistant employed by the provider with a named backup already briefed
- The workload is a full desk rather than a small monthly package
- You need US, Canadian or Australian hours as well as the UK day
Choose AVirtual if
- A published hourly rate from a London-registered company is what you want to see
- Five to twenty hours a month is the honest size of your current workload
- South African delivery hours and vocabulary suit your customers
Which companies are the main AVirtual alternatives?
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AssistBPO
Employed virtual assistants, receptionists, customer support agents and back-office staff from SS Support Network LLC, scheduled to UK, US, Canadian or Australian hours. Named assistant, trained backup, team lead, end-of-day report, monthly QA scorecard on calls and tickets.
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Virtalent
UK-resident assistants hand-matched for diary, inbox, admin and marketing support, with an account manager on the relationship and unused hours rolling into the next month.
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SmartPA
A partner network delivering business support under one brand since 2008, with a SmartPOD of trained colleagues behind your main contact and call handling among the services listed.
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Pink Spaghetti
A network of local UK franchise offices where you deal with the owner in your territory, with no monthly retainer and hours bought as the work arrives.
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Time etc
Experienced freelance assistants sold in monthly hour bundles, billed to the second, with rollover of unused hours and no setup fee, operating in the UK and the United States.
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OAssist
A UK virtual PA and receptionist service for small businesses covering inbox management, call answering and scheduling, aimed at owners who want light-touch cover rather than a full desk.
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Moneypenny
A large UK and US telephone answering business founded in 2000. A briefed receptionist takes your calls with a wider team behind her, and an AI receptionist is offered alongside the human service.
How does AssistBPO work?
A discovery call, then a named assistant proposed within 72 hours. That person works your hours inside your tools through your own user accounts, sends an end-of-day report, and is covered by a trained backup when they are off. A team lead runs a 20-minute weekly review with you and scores calls and tickets monthly. Assistants are employees of the group, never freelancers, and you never co-employ them. Plans start at $400 a month for 40 hours, at $10 an hour, and rates improve as you add assistants. Get a staffing plan within 1 business day.
Keep comparing
- AVirtual vs AssistBPOThe head-to-head table for AVirtual
- Designated PA alternativesPremium onshore agency
- Belay alternativesPremium onshore agency
- Boldly alternativesPremium onshore agency
- Athena alternativesPremium onshore agency
- All comparisons, by familyIncluding the rest of the premium onshore agencies
What this desk actually does
- A named executive assistant in your hoursService
- Dedicated virtual assistant services for the work that eats your dayService
- Executive & admin deskThe desk this sits on
- What moves a staffing planThe rate card, and the six things that move a plan off it
Frequently asked questions
Is AssistBPO cheaper than AVirtual?
Plans depend on hours, desks and coverage. Get a staffing plan within 1 business day. AVirtual publishes from £27 an hour with packages from around five hours a month, plus VAT where you cannot reclaim it (avirtual.co.uk, September 2026). Both providers deliver from outside the UK, so compare the monthly total at your real volume with telephone cover and backup included on both sides rather than comparing entry rates.
Which AVirtual alternative is better for phones?
Moneypenny is the specialist, answering around the clock with an AI option alongside the human service. AssistBPO staffs a receptionist on a named shift who answers in your company name and then works the diary, inbox and CRM between calls. SmartPA and OAssist also publish reception work. Virtalent, Time etc and Pink Spaghetti at national level do not list live answering as of September 2026.
Which alternatives keep everyone in the UK?
Virtalent, SmartPA, Pink Spaghetti, Time etc on its UK plans and OAssist all publish UK-based people. Moneypenny runs UK and US teams. AssistBPO employs its assistants in a second office in Pakistan working UK hours under a US-registered company, and says so plainly. If a UK address is a contractual requirement, that narrows the list fast. If UK hours and UK vocabulary are the real requirement, it does not.
What about data protection when work leaves the UK?
Ask every provider the same three questions: which country the person sits in, what international transfer paperwork is in place under UK GDPR, and who else can see your systems. AssistBPO works to a data processing agreement with an international transfer addendum, uses managed devices with multi-factor authentication, and runs TPS screening plus recorded-call notices on outbound work. Any provider delivering from outside the UK should be able to answer in writing.
How is this list compiled?
Providers appear here if they sell UK business support and publish enough on their own sites to compare on model, price, hours, telephone cover and continuity. Figures are quoted with the month checked and nothing is estimated. We do not rank providers, publish ratings or repeat reviews we cannot verify. AssistBPO is listed first because this is our site, and each entry is written so another provider can win on the facts.
Sources
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Next step
See how a dedicated assistant compares on your numbers
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- Employed, screened and managed staff, never freelancers
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