How much does
a VA actually cost?
The honest answer is that "virtual assistant" describes about six different products at six different prices. Here is what drives the range from $8 to $80 an hour, and how to compare like with like.
Ask what a virtual assistant costs and you will get quotes between $8 and $80 an hour, which is not a market with wide pricing — it is several different products sharing a label.
At the bottom, a marketplace freelancer working across multiple clients with nobody managing them. In the middle, a dedicated offshore employee recruited to your brief and managed by an agency. At the top, an onshore contractor or a specialist consultant.
This page sets out what actually drives the number, so you can compare properly. Then it does the part most cost pages skip: what the local alternative genuinely costs once you add everything a salary hides.
Who this is for
✓Worth your time if
- You are comparing quotes and they are wildly different
- You want to know what the local alternative truly costs
- You have been quoted a rate and cannot tell what is included
- You are building a business case for a hire
✕Probably not if
- You want the cheapest possible hourly rate — that is a different search
- You need a one-off task done — use a marketplace
- You are hiring for a licensed role that cannot be delegated
The six things that move the rate
Two quotes can differ by 4× and both be fair. These are the variables that explain it.
A dedicated team member works only for you, learns your systems and builds context. A shared or pooled resource is cheaper per hour and starts from zero every time. This is the single biggest driver of both price and outcome.
An employed team member has a contract, a manager, HR support and a replacement guarantee behind them. A freelancer has none of that, which is cheaper and carries the risk you would otherwise have transferred.
Whether somebody other than you handles recruitment, payroll, performance, equipment, connectivity and replacement. Unmanaged is cheaper and the management does not disappear — it moves to you.
General admin, bookkeeping, NDIS claiming, paraplanning support and development are genuinely different labour markets. A specialist rate reflects a smaller pool, not a bigger margin.
Full-time is the lowest rate per hour. Smaller engagements cost a little more per hour because the recruiting and management effort is identical whether someone works forty hours or ten.
The largest single component. An Australian administrator and a Manila-based one doing the same task differ by roughly three times, and that gap is a cost-of-living difference rather than a capability one.
What our rate is, and what it includes
So you can compare the middle of that range against whatever else you are quoted.
- From $14 per hour + GSTFull-time, dedicated to your business, working your hours. Roughly $29,000 a year for a full-time team member.
- No placement or setup feeNothing to start. No recruitment retainer, no onboarding charge, and interviewing candidates costs nothing.
- Recruitment, employment and management includedWe recruit to your brief, handle the employment relationship, payroll, HR and performance support. Equipment and connectivity are the team member's.
- First week refunded, replacement freeIf it is clearly wrong by day five, the first week is refunded. After that a replacement any time at no charge.
What the local alternative really costs
The comparison most businesses make is salary versus hourly rate, which understates the local cost substantially. These are the additions.
Superannuation
A statutory percentage on top of every dollar of salary. Check the current rate — it has stepped up in recent years.
Paid leave
Four weeks annual leave plus personal leave and public holidays means you are paying for roughly forty-six weeks of work across fifty-two weeks of salary.
Payroll tax
Applies once your Australian wage bill passes your state's threshold. It is calculated on local wages, so it scales with every onshore hire.
Workers compensation and insurances
Premiums vary by state and industry classification, and they attach to local employment.
Software, equipment and a desk
A computer, a phone, a licence for every system they touch, and the floor space to sit in. Easy to forget and not small.
Recruitment and the cost of a vacancy
Agency fees or your own time to hire, plus the weeks the role sits empty and the work does not get done.
Comparing a salary to an hourly rate
This is the mistake in almost every cost comparison we see, and it flatters the local option by a wide margin. A $75,000 salary is not a $75,000 cost — add super, leave loading, payroll tax, workers compensation, software licences, equipment and a desk and the all-in figure is meaningfully higher. Then divide by the weeks actually worked rather than fifty-two. Do that arithmetic properly before comparing anything to an hourly rate, because otherwise you are comparing a partial cost to a complete one. Our calculator uses all-in figures for exactly this reason, which is why the saving lands around seventy per cent rather than the fifty you would get from a salary-only comparison.