How much does a virtual assistant cost in 2026? (US, UK, Canada, Australia)

Virtual assistant cost in 2026 ranges from about $7 to $15 an hour for a managed offshore assistant to $65 an hour for a premium US executive assistant, based on the Wishup 2026 industry report and published agency rate cards. A full-time managed assistant runs $640 to $2,400 a month. An in-house assistant costs $4,700 to $9,100 a month loaded.

What are you paying for when you buy assistant hours?

Every quote is built from the same four parts, whichever country you are in.

1. Where the assistant sits. Onshore assistants in the US, UK, Canada or Australia cost two to four times more per hour than employed staff working from an offshore office in your time zone.
2. Who employs them. A freelancer bills you directly and carries no backup. A managed provider employs the assistant, supervises the work and covers absences. That supervision is a real cost and it shows up in the rate.
3. How many hours. Ad hoc hours cost the most per hour. Dedicated part-time (80 hours a month) and full-time (160 hours a month) plans cost the least per hour because the assistant is scheduled, not summoned.
4. What the work is. Inbox and calendar admin sits at the bottom of the range. Phones, customer support with tools like Zendesk, and specialist work such as insurance verification sit higher.

The market behind these numbers is large and still growing. The Wishup 2026 industry report sizes human virtual assistant services at $6.5 billion in 2026, heading to $43.4 billion by 2035 at a 23.4 percent compound growth rate. Administrative assistants are the largest slice at 31.5 percent, and admin plus marketing work together make up more than 62 percent of assistant workloads. In plain terms: most buyers are paying for inbox, calendar, documents, social and content, and that is where the pricing is most competitive.

How much does a virtual assistant cost in the United States?

The US has the widest spread because every model is on sale here: marketplaces, budget task plans, managed offshore staff, and premium onshore executive assistants.

Three things stand out. First, “US-based” does not mean one price: PayScale and Indeed differ by almost $8 an hour on the same job title, because Indeed’s sample skews toward employed, full-time roles. Second, the offshore band is wide too, and the low end usually buys an unmanaged freelancer rather than employed staff with a backup. Third, the premium onshore services are priced close to an in-house hire, which is the point: they sell experience and US hours, not savings.

If your need includes phones, add the answering-service market to your comparison. OnceHub’s September 2026 roundup puts human answering plans at roughly $235 a month for 50 minutes up to $1,095 for 500 minutes, with overage at $2.95 to $4.70 a minute, while AI receptionists sit at $25 to $300 a month flat. A dedicated assistant who also answers the phone often replaces both line items.

How much does a virtual assistant cost in the United Kingdom?

UK buyers use different words (virtual PA, diary management, telephone answering) and see different numbers, mostly because VAT and onshore salaries push the local rate up.

The VAT point matters more than it looks. Most UK agencies are VAT registered, so a non-registered client pays 20 percent on top of the quoted rate. A £28 an hour plan is £33.60 in practice. Offshore providers registered outside the UK often do not charge UK VAT, which widens the gap further for sole traders and small partnerships that cannot reclaim it.

The other UK-specific cost is compliance. Any outbound marketing calls need TPS and CTPS screening under PECR, and any data transfer outside the UK needs the right contract clauses under UK GDPR. A good provider bakes both into the plan rather than charging for them separately.

How much does a virtual assistant cost in Canada?

Canada sits between the US and the UK: onshore rates are high, most small businesses buy managed offshore plans priced in US dollars, and CASL makes outbound email and SMS the most regulated of the four markets.

Two cost notes for Canadian buyers. Bilingual French coverage is a genuine premium; ask whether it is native fluency or “can read a French email”, and whether it is available on request or standard. And any commercial email or text your assistant sends must meet CASL express-consent rules enforced by the CRTC, so outbound work is always done with lawful consent and do-not-call scrubbing. Providers who already run that process save you a compliance project.

How much does a virtual assistant cost in Australia?

Australia’s buying criterion is time zone. Offshore staff who work AEST hours are the norm, and the price gap with local hires is the largest of the four markets.

An A$35,000 a year offshore assistant working staffed AEST shifts versus an A$91,000 loaded local hire is the comparison most Australian owners run. The question to ask is whether the shift is genuinely staffed in your hours or whether you are being offered a partial overlap. For phones, ask about Do Not Call Register washing under the ACMA rules if any outbound work is in scope.

Which pricing model fits your workload?

Match the model to the shape of the work, not to the headline rate.

A useful rule: if you are already spending more than 20 hours a month on hourly help, price a dedicated part-time plan. If your assistant would also answer calls, price the dedicated plan against your current answering-service bill, because one person can usually do both.

What changes a quote? A checklist to send every provider

Send the same brief to every provider so the quotes line up. Copy this list.

• Hours a month: 40, 80 or 160, and whether they must be fixed or can float.
• Desks: admin only, or admin plus phones, support, sales follow-up, marketing, e-commerce or data.
• Coverage window: your local business hours, plus evenings, weekends or 24/7.
• Time zone: the exact overlap you need, in your local time.
• Phones: inbound answering, outbound reminders (with lawful consent and do-not-call scrubbing), or none.
• Tools: the CRM, help desk, phone system and calendar the assistant will work in.
• Compliance: HIPAA-trained staff and a BAA for healthcare, a data processing agreement for UK and EU data, CASL consent capture for Canadian outreach.
• Languages: English only, or bilingual on request.
• Continuity: a named assistant, a backup and a team lead, and what happens when someone is off.
• Start date: how quickly you need someone proposed and onboarded.

AssistBPO staffs dedicated, employed assistants with a backup and a team lead, in your hours; see how pricing works. Plans depend on hours, desks and coverage. Get a staffing plan within 1 business day.

How does a managed assistant compare with an in-house hire?

The in-house number is the one most owners underestimate. Salary is only the start; payroll tax, benefits, a laptop, software seats, a desk and the management time to supervise all land on top. Indeed data cited in the Wishup 2026 report puts the loaded cost of a US in-house executive assistant at $4,700 to $9,100 a month. The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook gives a median receptionist wage of $38,010 a year (May 2025 data), which is about $3,170 a month before any of those extras.

Against that, a managed full-time assistant at $640 to $2,400 a month looks cheap, and it is, but only if the provider is doing the employer’s job. That means recruiting, training, quality checks, cover for sick days and a manager who reads the end-of-day report. If a provider cannot describe who supervises your assistant and what happens when they are off, you are buying a freelancer with a logo.

Freelancer turnover is the hidden line item. Cost roundups from Zedtreeo and Catalyst Outsourcing (2026) estimate that losing a freelance assistant costs two to three months of their pay in lost productivity while you find and train the next person. Over two years, one replacement wipes out most of the rate difference between a marketplace hire and a managed one.

How do you budget the first 90 days?

Treat the first quarter as an onboarding investment, not a steady-state cost. Here is a simple template you can adapt. The figures are illustrative placeholders, not a quote.

Two practical notes. Write the first three SOPs yourself in month one, even badly; the assistant will tidy them and the rest will come from the daily rhythm. And decide the KPIs before you start: inbox to zero by 5pm, calls answered within 20 seconds, tickets closed within your target. A plan without numbers cannot be reviewed, and a plan that cannot be reviewed drifts.

The short version: pick the market band that matches where you want the assistant to sit, price a dedicated plan if you have more than 20 hours a month of work, send every provider the same checklist, and budget 90 days to reach full speed.