You Google "how much does a virtual assistant cost" and you get answers all over the place — $5/hr to $75/hr, packages starting at $300/month, hourly rates that vary by country, skill level, and whether you go direct or through an agency. It's genuinely confusing.

This breakdown gives you the real numbers across every VA hiring model, the hidden costs most people miss, and a clear answer on what you should actually expect to pay for the results you want.

How Much Does a Virtual Assistant Cost: The Full Spectrum

VA pricing splits into four main models. Here's the honest breakdown:

Model	Hourly Rate	Full-Time Monthly	Part-Time Monthly	Best For
Jarvis (AI-trained Filipino VA)	$10/hr	~$1,600/mo	~$800/mo	Ongoing ops, automation, delegation
Freelance VA (Upwork/Fiverr)	$8–$35/hr	$1,280–$5,600/mo	$640–$2,800/mo	One-off tasks or niche projects
US-based VA agency	$35–$75/hr	$5,600–$12,000/mo	$2,800–$6,000/mo	Sensitive data, executive-level work
Automation agency (no VA)	N/A	$3,000–$15,000/project	One-time builds only	Complex one-time buildouts

Most business owners doing $10K–$200K/month find the sweet spot in the $10–$20/hr range with an offshore AI-trained VA. You get full-time coverage at a fraction of the cost of a US employee, without losing quality on the tasks that actually matter.

What Jarvis Charges for a Virtual Assistant

$10/hr. No placement fees. No long-term contracts.

Full-time (40 hrs/week): ~$1,600/month
Part-time (20 hrs/week): ~$800/month

That math: $10/hr × 8hrs × 5 days × 4 weeks = $1,600/month. You get a pre-screened, AI-trained VA who knows tools like GoHighLevel, Shopify, Meta Ads, and Klaviyo before they start. No 30-day ramp. No paying for someone to learn your stack on your dime.

One D2C brand owner we work with was paying $3,200/month for a part-time US-based VA doing customer service and order management. She switched to a Jarvis VA at $800/month for the same 20 hours — same output, half the cost — and used the savings to fund a second VA for her Shopify backend. See how Jarvis matches and deploys VAs within 7–10 days.

Freelance VA Pricing: Upwork, Fiverr, and Direct Hires

Freelance VAs on Upwork or OnlineJobs.ph range from $4/hr (entry-level, limited English) to $35/hr (experienced, US-based). The average Filipino VA on Upwork with 2+ years experience charges $10–$18/hr.

The catch: you handle everything. Sourcing, vetting, onboarding, training, managing, replacing if they quit. For a business owner already stretched thin, that's the cost people always underestimate. You're adding a part-time HR job on top of everything else.

Platforms also charge service fees (20% on the VA's side, sometimes 5% on yours), and payment processing adds another 3–5%. Your $12/hr VA is actually costing you more like $14–$15/hr fully loaded.

US-Based VA Agencies: When the Higher Rate Makes Sense

Agencies like BELAY, Boldly, and Time Etc charge $35–$55/hr for US-based VAs. For certain use cases — legal, financial, healthcare, executive scheduling with sensitive data — the premium is justified. You get someone with strong written English, familiarity with US business norms, and no time zone friction.

For most small business owners, though, $7,000–$9,000/month for one full-time VA is hard to justify when the same tasks can be handled for $1,600/month. The VA vs full-time employee comparison often comes down to this same math.

What Most People Get Wrong About VA Pricing

The sticker rate is not the total cost. Here's what gets missed:

• Training time: An untrained VA costs you 4–8 hours of your time in week one to onboard. Multiply by $X/hour of your own time.
• Ramp period: Most VAs need 2–4 weeks before they're fully productive. You're paying for output you're not fully getting yet.
• Turnover: If your VA quits after 3 months, you start over. Re-sourcing, re-vetting, re-training. That's a real cost that doesn't show up on a rate card.
• Tool costs: Does your VA need their own Zapier account? Their own Shopify login? Their own project management seat? These add up.

Jarvis handles screening, onboarding, and replacement at no extra cost. See the full Jarvis pricing breakdown and what's included.

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Part-Time vs Full-Time VA: Which Is Worth It

Part-time (20 hrs/week) makes sense when you have a defined scope — inbox management, customer service, one channel of social. Budget: $800–$1,000/month with Jarvis, $1,200–$2,400 with a freelancer.

Full-time (40 hrs/week) is where the ROI compounds. A full-time VA can own multiple systems — inbox + CRM + reporting + customer service — and build automations that remove work entirely over time. At $1,600/month, full-time with Jarvis costs less than a part-time US employee including taxes and benefits.

Most clients who start part-time with Jarvis upgrade to full-time within 90 days once they see what's possible. See what a full-time Jarvis VA actually handles for your type of business.

Specialized VA Roles: Pricing by Skill Set

General admin VAs are the cheapest. Specialized skills command higher rates:

• GoHighLevel VA: $12–$18/hr (Jarvis GHL VAs start at $10/hr due to pre-training)
• Shopify VA: $12–$20/hr (product listings, orders, customer service, inventory)
• Meta Ads VA: $15–$25/hr (ad setup, reporting, creative coordination)
• Bookkeeping VA: $15–$30/hr (QuickBooks, reconciliation, invoicing)
• Cold calling VA: $10–$15/hr + performance bonuses
• Video editing VA: $10–$20/hr depending on complexity

Jarvis sources VAs for over 40 specialized roles. The pre-training on AI tools means you don't pay extra for someone who can use Claude, Make, or n8n to automate parts of their own job.

VA vs Automation Agency: The $5,000 Question

Automation agencies charge $3,000–$15,000 to build a workflow. They hand you the system and leave. If it breaks, you pay for support. If your business changes, you pay for changes.

A Jarvis VA who builds automation costs $1,600/month. They build the same workflow AND handle everything else — inbox, CRM, reporting, customer comms. When the workflow breaks, they fix it. When your business pivots, they adapt.

For businesses under $500K/year, a VA who builds automation beats an agency 9 out of 10 times. See how Jarvis VAs handle automation alongside their regular workload.

What a VA Actually Costs vs What It Costs to Not Have One

An agency owner we work with was spending 18 hours a week on admin — emails, scheduling, follow-ups, reporting. At her billing rate of $200/hour, that's $3,600/week or $14,400/month in lost billing capacity.

Her Jarvis VA took over 14 of those 18 hours in the first month at $1,600/month. Net recovery: $12,800/month in freed capacity. That's the math that makes the hiring decision obvious.

The question isn't "can I afford a VA?" It's "what does it cost me to keep doing this myself?" Most business owners doing $10K+/month have a clear answer once they look at the numbers. See the full Jarvis ROI case.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a virtual assistant cost per month?
A full-time VA (40 hrs/week) from a service like Jarvis runs $1,600–$2,000/month at $10/hr. Part-time (20 hrs/week) runs $800–$1,000/month. Freelance VAs on Upwork or Fiverr typically cost $15–$35/hr, which is $2,400–$5,600/month for the same hours.

How much do virtual assistants charge per hour?
Filipino VAs working through agencies like Jarvis charge $10–$12/hr. US-based VAs charge $25–$50/hr. Executive assistants and specialized VAs (bookkeeping, paid ads, tech) run $30–$75/hr. What you actually pay depends on the tasks, not just the country.

Is it cheaper to hire a VA or a full-time employee?
A full-time US employee at $50K/year costs $60,000–$75,000 when you add employer taxes, benefits, PTO, and overhead. A full-time Jarvis VA at $10/hr runs about $20,800/year — roughly 3–4x cheaper for the same 40 hours per week.

What is a fair price for a virtual assistant?
For offshore VAs doing admin, customer service, and data entry: $8–$15/hr is fair. For AI-trained VAs who can build automations and run tools like GoHighLevel or Shopify: $10–$20/hr. Paying less than $8/hr usually means quality problems; more than $20/hr for general admin means you're overpaying.

How much does a VA cost compared to an automation agency?
An automation agency charges $3,000–$15,000 per project to build a workflow. A Jarvis VA who builds and maintains the same automation costs $1,600/month and can handle other tasks simultaneously. For most businesses under $500K/year, the VA path is cheaper and more flexible.

What does Jarvis charge for a virtual assistant?
Jarvis charges $10/hr with no placement fees or contracts. Full-time is ~$1,600/month, part-time ~$800/month. All Jarvis VAs are pre-trained on AI tools and automation platforms before they start.

Stop Doing Admin at Your Billing Rate

If you're doing $10K+/month and still managing your own inbox, chasing your own leads, and building your own reports — you're paying $150–$500/hour in opportunity cost to do work a $10/hr VA can handle. The math is brutal once you look at it clearly.

Book a free 15-minute call. We'll map exactly which tasks to hand off first, how many hours you actually need, and what it looks like to have a trained VA start within the week.

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