Essential
10 hours a week40 hours a month
$400a month
$10.00 an hour, effective
One overloaded workflow: the inbox, the diary, or the follow-ups.
- UK £310
- Canada CA$550
- Australia A$605
Pricing
Straightforward pricing
Virtual assistant cost at AssistBPO is set by hours a week, the desks involved, whether phones are part of the work, the coverage zone and whether you need one dedicated person or a pod with a lead, then quoted per person for a block of hours rather than per minute or per task.
- Backup and team lead included
- Plans in USD, GBP, CAD, AUD
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.
How pricing works
A dedicated assistant is priced per person for a block of hours, 80 or 160 a month, with the trained backup and the team lead in the same line. Shared desks are priced per call or ticket. Pods are priced per team with a lead. Projects are fixed scope.
The rate card below is the starting point, not the whole answer. What moves a plan off it is the six things further down, and we would rather ask you about those than quote a number you have to renegotiate in month two.
- No per-minute meter on a dedicated desk
A busy month does not produce a surprise bill. Shared desks are the exception and say so in the plan.
- One line, three people
The named assistant, the backup who has shadowed your desk, and the team lead who runs the weekly review.
- No setup fee, month to month
Notice is 30 days either way, to stop or to change the hours on a plan. If the fit is wrong, the trained backup covers the desk the same day and we re-match you at no charge.
Rate card
What does a dedicated assistant cost?
Four schedules, one person on each, all at the same hourly rate, so a ten-hour week costs what a full-time week costs per hour. Every plan carries the same team behind it.
Focus
20 hours a week80 hours a month
$800a month
$10.00 an hour, effective
Half a desk covered every day, in a fixed window you can plan around.
- UK £625
- Canada CA$1,105
- Australia A$1,210
Most chosen
Dedicated
40 hours a week160 hours a month
$1,600a month
$10.00 an hour, effective
A full-time member of your team, in your hours, on your tools.
- UK £1,250
- Canada CA$2,210
- Australia A$2,415
Specialist
40 hours a week160 hours a month
$2,400a month
$15.00 an hour, effective
A regulated or technical desk: clinical intake, legal, bookkeeping, escalations.
- UK £1,870
- Canada CA$3,310
- Australia A$3,625
Managed Pod from $4,800 a month. Three or more seats, 480 hours a month or more, with one team lead across the pod. That works out at $1,600 a seat and $10.00 an hour. Above five seats we quote. Talk to us about a pod
Rates improve as you add assistants. Your staffing plan states the rate for the number of seats you need.
These are around 80 to 85 per cent below the onshore agency rates published further down this page, Delegated at 48 dollars an hour and Boldly at 65. The desks are staffed from the group's own offices rather than onshore, by employed staff on a fixed schedule, which is where the difference comes from.
Minimum term Month to month. Prices are shown in US dollars; indicative only. Invoicing happens in the buyer's own currency and rates are reviewed quarterly. UK prices exclude VAT at 20 percent, which is how Time Etc and Virtalent publish theirs.
In every plan
What is included at every price?
The same nine things, whether you take ten hours a week or a pod of five. None of them are add-ons, because a desk without them is not a desk we are willing to run.
We do not roll unused hours over, and the reason is the point of the model. Your assistant is not a prepaid balance. They are an employed member of your team on a fixed schedule, paid whether or not you fill the slot. If a quiet week comes up we redirect them to a second workflow you have queued, at no extra cost.
- A named assistant you meet first
One person, introduced by name with their CV, on a call before you commit to anything.
- Employed, never contracted
A salaried employee of SS Support Network LLC, with payroll, statutory benefits and leave handled by us. We never place freelancers or contractors.
- A named backup, trained on your SOPs
A second assistant cross-trained on the same processes, covering sickness, leave and holidays at no extra charge.
- A team lead who is accountable
One person who runs onboarding, the weekly check-in and any escalation, so you are never routed to a queue.
- Quality assurance you can read
Weekly sampled review of completed work against the SOP, a monthly written scorecard, and a documented corrective loop.
- Your processes, documented and yours
SOPs built in the first 14 days and owned by you, so the knowledge survives any change of staff.
- Security that is written down
Signed NDA, pre-employment background check, company-managed workstations in a supervised office, multi-factor authentication, a password vault, no personal devices and no removable media.
- A US counterparty
Contract, invoicing and escalation run through a Washington State LLC, while delivery runs from our second office in Pakistan.
- Time you can see
A daily time log you can open and a written monthly summary.
What costs extra?
Priced separately because not every desk needs them. Each one is set against what the market publishes for the same thing.
| Add-on | Price | Why that number |
|---|---|---|
| Extra hours, in 10-hour blocks | Your tier rate plus 15 percent, so 11.50 dollars an hour on Dedicated | Delegated charges a 25 percent overage premium. Unpublished overage is the thing buyers fear most. |
| Evening, weekend or overnight cover | Plus 20 percent on the tier | Moneypenny charges extra for around-the-clock cover. |
| Inbound answering overlay | 249 dollars a month for 200 minutes, then 0.95 dollars a minute | AnswerConnect charges 350 dollars for the same 200 minutes plus a setup fee. Ruby charges 250 for 50 minutes. |
| Specialist project work | 29 dollars an hour | Boldly bills the identical carve-out at 79 dollars an hour. |
| Compliance pack | 99 dollars a month | A signed BAA, a HIPAA-aligned workflow, a restricted device policy and an audit log. Our staff are HIPAA-trained; there is no such thing as a HIPAA certification. |
| Dedicated number and call recording | 39 dollars a month | Your own direct dial, with recording and the notices each country requires. |
| Annual prepay | 8 percent off | Smith.ai publishes 10 percent for 12 months, Polaris 15 percent. |
What moves a staffing plan
In the order they matter. Bring the right-hand column to the call and the plan comes back the same day.
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Hours a week
The biggest driver. Dedicated assistants run 80 or 160 hours a month; shared desks are priced per call or ticket for lower volumes.
What to tell usA rough number of hours, and which days they fall on.
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Desks
One desk with a general assistant costs less to staff than three desks that each need a specialist. A pod with a lead is the honest answer above two desks.
What to tell usWhich functions are overloaded: inbox, phones, support, sales, back office.
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Phones
Live answering needs a receptionist profile, a phone test, a backup who has shadowed the desk and softphone setup, so it is priced as its own line.
What to tell usCalls a day, who they are from, and what should happen to each one.
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Coverage zone
Business hours in one zone are the base. After-hours, weekends and 24/7 add shifts; extended Australian coverage is confirmed in the plan.
What to tell usThe first and last hour of your day, in your own time zone.
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Tools and access
Clean access through your own accounts keeps onboarding short; systems with no assistant role or with strict audit requirements add setup time.
What to tell usThe tools the desk lives in, and who can create a user in them.
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One person or a pod
A dedicated assistant includes a backup and a team lead. A pod adds a lead who reports to you weekly and owns cover and QA.
What to tell usWhether one person could carry the whole function today.
Size it yourself first
The planner carries your answers into the plan form and shows no price, because at this point nobody has one.
It runs in your browser. Nothing is sent until you choose to send it.
How many hours do you need?
Pick the desks that are overloaded and a rough weekly load. The planner suggests an engagement model; the staffing plan confirms it.
Suggested model
Dedicated assistant, part-time (80 hours a month)
About 20 hours a week of steady work fits one named part-time assistant with a backup. Plans depend on hours, desks and coverage. Get a staffing plan within 1 business day.
Market benchmarks by country
Published third-party ranges with their sources, so you can place any plan in context. None of these are AssistBPO prices.
- United States
-
Outsourced, as published
Managed remote assistants $7 to $25 an hour, $640 to $2,400 a month full-time; premium onshore $35 to $79 an hour (Boldly $2,600 for 40 hours); answering plans $235 for 50 minutes to $1,095 for 500 minutes
In-house comparison
In-house executive assistant $4,700 to $9,100 a month loaded; receptionist median $38,010 a year
Sources Wishup 2026, Cherry Assistant, Zedtreeo, Boldly and Time etc published pricing, OnceHub Sep 2026, BLS May 2025 data
- United Kingdom
-
Outsourced, as published
Virtual PAs £25 to £45 an hour (Virtalent about £28; Pink Spaghetti £35 to £40); SmartPA from about £330 for 10 hours; offshore full-time £900 to £2,000 a month
In-house comparison
UK-based full-time £3,000 to £5,000 a month; experienced executive assistant salary about £46,000
Sources SVA surveys, PayScale UK, provider pricing pages, 2026
- Canada
-
Outsourced, as published
Canada-based C$25 to C$60 an hour (Toronto and Vancouver EAs to C$75); managed offshore US$699 to US$899 a month
In-house comparison
C$45,000 to C$60,000 salary plus on-costs
Sources Virtual Gurus, VantaStaff, 2026
- Australia
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Outsourced, as published
Offshore managed A$8 to A$35 an hour; onshore A$39.90 to A$65 an hour; retainers A$800 to A$3,000 a month
In-house comparison
Full-time offshore A$22,000 to A$35,000 a year vs A$91,000 or more loaded local employee
Sources Virtual Coworker, DotVA, Smart Staffing, June to August 2026
- AI receptionists
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Outsourced, as published
$25 to $300 a month flat, scripted answers only
In-house comparison
Not a like-for-like alternative for exceptions, upset callers or bookings around a doctor's lunch
Sources AIRA, Dialzara, NextPhone published plans, 2026
How every figure on this site is counted and sourced: methodology. How the models themselves compare: AssistBPO beside named alternatives.
The five shapes a plan can take
Dedicated for steady daily work, shared for spiky volumes, a pod for a whole function, a project for a backlog, and 24/7 coverage on top of any of them. Plans depend on hours, desks and coverage.
| Model | How it is counted | What it is | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dedicated assistant | Full-time 160 hours or part-time 80 hours a month | One named person in your hours, plus a trained backup and a team lead. | Founders, executives, front desks and support queues with steady daily work. |
| Shared desk | Per minute, per call or per ticket | A pooled front-desk or support desk for lower or spiky volumes. | Overflow calls, after-hours cover, seasonal ticket peaks. |
| Team pod | 3 to 10 assistants plus a lead | A whole function staffed and managed as one team, with a lead who reports to you. | Support teams, sales desks, e-commerce operations, industry pods. |
| Project | Fixed scope and dates | A defined piece of work such as a CRM migration, a data cleanse or a catalog build. | Backlogs and one-off builds. |
| 24/7 coverage add-on | Follow-the-sun shifts | Evenings, weekends and overnight coverage layered on any model. | Phones and support that cannot close. |
Get a staffing plan Model names are confirmed in your plan.
Get your staffing plan
Seven short steps. A named person reads them, asks anything that is unclear, and sends a written plan within 1 business day: the desk, the hours, the model, the coverage and what it costs for your shape of work.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my plan still vary if there is a price list?
Because the rate card prices a schedule, not a job. Twenty hours of inbox work and twenty hours of live phones are the same hours and very different desks. The card tells you what a seat costs; the plan tells you how many seats, which desks, which hours and what sits outside the standard scope. Most clients land on the card price.
How is a dedicated assistant priced?
Per person for a block of hours: 80 hours a month part-time or 160 hours full-time, in your hours, with a trained backup and a team lead included. There is no per-minute meter, so a busy month does not produce a surprise bill.
What does a shared desk cost?
Shared front desks and support desks are priced per call or per ticket for lower or spiky volumes. The plan states the unit and the expected monthly range from your volumes; the answering service calculator shows how per-minute plans elsewhere compare.
Is there a setup fee or a minimum term?
No setup fee, and no minimum term. The engagement is month to month with no lock-in, and notice is 30 days either way, to stop or to change the hours on a plan. The plan you receive within 1 business day states those terms and the replacement policy in plain words.
Do prices differ by country?
Plans are issued in USD, GBP, CAD or AUD to match your market, and scope reflects local work such as PECR screening, CASL consent or Do Not Call Register washing. The benchmarks table shows published market ranges per country for orientation.
Can I start small?
Yes. Many clients begin with one part-time assistant on one desk, then add hours or a second desk after the first weekly reviews. A fixed-scope project is another way in for a backlog such as a CRM migration or a data cleanse.
How does the cost compare with hiring?
Use the in-house versus virtual assistant calculator with your own salary, benefits, overhead and turnover figures. Published US figures put a loaded executive assistant at $4,700 to $9,100 a month; the honest comparison is the calculator with your numbers, plus the backup and team lead you do not have to hire.
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