Virtual assistants (VAs) can remotely handle administrative and bookkeeping tasks, from managing your calendar or social media to streamlining business operations. The best virtual assistant companies connect you to a full-time or part-time VA that they’ve vetted for skill and experience. They handle all the payroll and benefits for that employee and ensure your satisfaction with the work done.
We looked at over 30 providers and narrowed it down to the best eight virtual assistant companies:
- FreeUp: Best overall, but especially for ecommerce and software development companies
- MyTasker: Best for budget-minded companies needing general administrative services
- Upwork: Best for businesses needing individuals for project work on a gig basis
- Time etc: Best for teams and businesses needing highly qualified, US-based VAs
- Virtual Assist USA: Best for experienced VAs in specialized industries
- Remote CoWorker: Best for startups
- Virtual Employee: Best for getting a vetted virtual assistant quickly
- Prialto: Best for businesses in the sales and insurance industries
Best Virtual Assistant Companies Compared
Hourly pricing | Plans | Roll over unused hours | Dedicated assistant | Specializations | VAs based in | Average years of experience | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $5–$75 | Per hour | N/A | ✕ | Admin, ecommerce, marketing, web design, software dev, voiceover | Worldwide | Varies by plan (pay less for less experience) |
 | $9–$14 ($18 for pay-as-you-go) | Monthly or pay-as-you-go | No | ✓ | Biz dev, IT, video editing, accounting, admin, marketing | India | Unspecified |
 | $5–$200+ (for VAs) + 3%–5% marketplace fee | By project | N/A | Depends on freelancer | Depends on freelancer | Worldwide | Varies by project |
 | $33–$36 | Monthly (10–60 hours) | ✓ | ✓ | Administrative, marketing, sales administration | US | 12 |
 | $35–$38 | Monthly (15–50 hours) | ✓ | ✓ | Wide range: education, finance, health, HR, insurance, legal, publishing, more | US | Minimum 10 |
 | $7.99–$9.99 | Hourly | ✓ | ✓ | Ecommerce, legal, healthcare, insurance, hospitality | Philippines, Costa Rica | Unspecified |
 | Varies by job ($7+/hour;monthly minimum spend: $995) | Monthly | No | ✓ | IT, marketing, finance, software dev, legal, mobile app dev, medical | India | Unspecified |
 | $26.36 ($250 setup fee) | Monthly (groups of 55 hours) | No (but does not charge for small overages, either) | ✓ | Real estate, insurance, venture capitalist, gen admin and sales | US, Philippines, Guatemala | 10 |
Need a full-time employee? VA companies are great if you want an outsourced contractor to handle specific tasks. However, if you want a dedicated, full-time assistant in your office, you’ll need to hire one yourself. Check out these articles to get you started:
- How to hire employees
- How to find employees you’ll love
- How to advertise for a job
- Best recruiting software
FreeUp: Best Overall Virtual Assistant Service, Especially for Ecommerce and Software Dev Companies
Pros
- Get a vetted VA in a day
- Hourly pricing based on VA experience
- Supreme user ratings
- If your VA quits, they find another immediately
Cons
- Not for specialized industries
- No 24/7 service
- No trained backups
Why We Chose
FreeUp was our previous choice for quick-hire VAs, but in 2023, we like it best for ecommerce and software companies that want a VA who understands software and dev and can handle some of those tasks if needed. It vets its freelancers thoroughly, chooses the top 1%, and treats them well. It lets you pay by the hour, with its price ranges dependent upon location, experience, and duties. The overall result is extreme customer satisfaction.
With 4.35 out of 5 in our evaluation, FreeUp handles admin, bookkeeping and accounting, research, and marketing, but does not list IT or industries that require specific expertise (check Virtual Assist USA or Upwork if you have specific needs). It also does not offer trained backups (though it will replace a VA fast) and does not have 24/7 services like answering phones after hours. However, it earned perfect scores for payment features and popularity, with the highest real-world user satisfaction rate on our list.
FreeUp Pricing
FreeUp is the only one on our list that specifically prices by expertise. It has three levels. There are no contracts, and it charges by hour rather than packages of hours.
- Entry level ($5–$15 per hour): Best for basic tasks and following procedures already set in place, such as data entry, lead generation, transcriptions, telemarketing with scripts, and SEO analysis
- Mid Level ($15–$30 per hour): These freelancers have more experience and don’t need training although they may need guidance. Jobs include content writing, project, email marketing, click funnels, bookkeeping and accounting, customer support, and programming and development like website creation.
- Expert Level ($30–$75 per hour): Usually an hour is spent in consultation and creating a plan of action, then the freelancer can take it from there. Use this plan for consulting, management of projects like website builds or ecommerce operations, marketing and strategy, Amazon merchandise design and listings, programming, and conversion rate optimization.
FreeUp’s price estimator gives you an excellent approximation of how much your VA will cost. (Source: FreeUp)
FreeUp Features
- VA in a Day: FreeUp says that it can recommend a virtual assistant to you within a day. It vets its applicants and hires in the top 1%. After your consultation, it will connect you with a candidate for a 15-30 minute interview. Few services offer this speed and the opportunity to interview a candidate. Upwork, for example, can take days or weeks, depending on whether you post a job, search for candidates yourself, or use their talent search service. Virtual Employee can get you a hire in under eight hours—but chooses them for you.
- Price range breakdowns: FreeUp prices its rates by the VA’s location, duties, and experience. Most others on our list charge a flat rate whether your VA is a new recruit in India doing admin and scheduling or an experienced VA with a master’s degree in the US handling business analysis.
- Amazing customer reviews: FreeUp had the highest customer service ratings on our list, scoring an average of 4.94 out of 5 over several third-party review websites. Customers say support is quick and effective, while freelancers say FreeUp cares about both them and the customer. Most of the virtual assistant companies on our list earned around 4.5 out of 5.
- Quick replacement: While FreeUp does not have dedicated, trained backups like Virtual Assist USA, it does guarantee that if you lose your virtual assistant, they will find a replacement immediately and cover any costs for replacing them.
- Web design and software development: In addition to the usual VA tasks, you can hire assistants for website design and interface optimization, website development for major ecommerce solutions like Shopify, and even mobile game development. Only Upwork offers this depth of skill in programming, and then, you’d probably be better off searching for a developer instead of a VA.
MyTasker: Best for General Administrative and Bookkeeping on a Budget
Pros
- Access to IT, accounting experts
- Backups, additional support available
- Business setup (India only)
- Discounts for quarterly, annual commitments
- Pay-as-you go option
Cons
- Can’t roll over hours to next month
- No Spanish-speaking VAs
- Experience varies
- Trial costs $1
- Business setup services still limited to India
Why We Chose
MyTasker provides 24/7 services for administration, accounting, writing and editing, web design and development, digital marketing, and IT support. It is based in India, and its prices are cheaper than most on our list while still being good wages for that country. Further, all the employees work in a single office. As such, you get a VA with trained backup or, if needed, an entire team of VAs.
MyTasker earned a strong 4.27 out of 5 stars in our evaluation. While it lost points for lacking a free trial, the prices are highly competitive and unlike Virtual Employee, it has no monthly minimums. We dropped points, because it does not allow rollover hours and because of the lack of multilingual services. The VAs are fluent in English, of course, and real-world users almost unanimously praise their responsiveness, excellent communication, and excellent work.
MyTasker Pricing
Like most virtual assistant services for small businesses, MyTasker charges in groups of hours per month. However, it offers discounted rates to those who opt for a quarterly (5% discount), half-yearly (10% discount), or yearly (15% discount) plan. Unlike Time etc, Virtual Employee, and Remote CoWorker, it does not roll over hours to the next month.
- $1 Trial plan: one limited-time task under supervision by a customer support supervisor
- 10 hours: $140/month
- 20 hours: $250/month
- 40 hours: $450/month
- 60 hours: $600/month
- 100 hours: $900/month
- Full time: $1,200/month, for five days a week, business hours
- Pay-as-you-go: $18/hour
MyTasker offers administrative support, IT support, and business setup (for India). (Source: MyTasker)
MyTasker Features
Since Our Last Update: MyTasker has added video editing services to its offerings.
- 24/7 service: MyTasker runs 24/7, which is great for international businesses with offices in different time zones. You can have a VA for your Los Angeles office and another for your London office on the same plan. It’s also good when you have a project that needs to be done quickly. No others on our list offer 24/7 service.
- Business startup (India only): If you’re starting a business in India, MyTasker can handle all the administrative tasks, as well as set up infrastructure, human resources, training, and more. Although this only applies to starting businesses in India, it is still a unique service not found in any of the VA companies we explored.
- Access to additional VAs: When you train your VA, you’ll also train a backup so that you don’t lose coverage if your primary gets sick (most on our list will provide backups, but only Prialto specifies that they cross-train a backup). In addition, if you have a task beyond the skill of your VA, MyTasker can find you a better match for that project (Prialto also does this, while Virtual Assist USA offers teams). Either way, you are billed at the same rate on the same plan.
- IT and accounting: While several VA services on our list said they can do light bookkeeping and work with software, only MyTasker, Virtual Employee, and Virtual Assist USA specifically said they have employees qualified for accounting and IT services. Accounting includes bookkeeping, pre-filing taxes, and business account management.
- Inexpensive: MyTasker is among the least expensive on our list, with the hourly rates coming to around $9 to $14 per hour with a monthly plan. Unlike Time etc, MyTasker does not let you roll over hours. You can upgrade or downgrade as needed or get a pay-as-you-go plan for $18/hour. Only FreeUp is cheaper, and even then, it depends on the plan.
- Confidentiality: MyTasker’s employees work under 24-hour monitoring by CCTV with computers monitored by its IT department, but you can also monitor your VA if desired. Your business passwords are encrypted in the portal, and its employees undergo background checks and sign nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) for additional security. This is standard for the best virtual assistant services.
Upwork: Best Virtual Assistant Service for Project-based VA Work
Pros
- Wide choice of freelancers
- Hire by project
- Choose your own VA rather than having one assigned
- Can convert your VA to a full-time hire
- Can have Upwork find your hire for you
Cons
- You seek, interview, and vet candidates
- Most freelancers work short term
- Upwork charges a transaction fee on top of the VA fees
- Not all freelancers are vetted
- Limited dispute options if you don’t like your VA
Why We Chose
Upwork is one of the best freelance websites for small businesses, with freelancers and gig workers looking for almost any open role, from steady VA work to one-off projects an assistant may handle. As such, it ranks as the best choice when you need a highly talented individual for specific projects. To find a VA on Upwork, you can post the job, search the freelancers on the site, or use its talent sourcing service.
Upwork earned 4.13 out of 5 in our evaluation. It got perfect scores for popularity and payment options. Freelancers set their own pricing and Upwork charges an additional fee for payment (the only service on our list to do so). You hire and pay your VA through Upwork, but it does not manage or vet the freelancers on its site unless you use its hiring service. Thus, while you can hand-pick your VA, it may take longer than other providers on our list, which can find and onboard someone for you in as little as a day.
Upwork Pricing
Since Our Last Update: We found a wider range of prices from freelancers. Upwork is also increasing its fee to freelancers to 10% of the contract which they may pass on to you through increased hourly expenses.
Upwork is unusual in its pricing, as each virtual assistant can set their own prices. Thus, you can get a huge range, from $6 per hour for overseas workers to $99 per hour for high-level executive assistants. You can also hire them by project.
Upwork charges you a 5% transaction fee (3% in the US if you pay by check). They also charge freelancers 10%, which some freelancers consider when calculating their hourly or project rates.
- Post a job: Free
- Transaction fee: 3%–5%
- VA rates: $5–$200/hour (based on freelancer prices posted on Upwork)
- Rates vary by job and may be hourly or by project.
Upwork makes it easy to search for part-time workers and gig workers on Upwork. (Source: Upwork)
Upwork Features
Since Our Last Update: Upwork has made full-time hiring available on its platform. Businesses can hire freelancers for short-term trial projects committing to a full-time role in its Enterprise Suite offering. This is in response to Upwork’s 2022 survey, which revealed that 93% of hiring managers frequently transition freelancers into permanent full-time positions.
- Excellent variety: Upwork is for freelancers in areas ranging from administration to engineering—only Virtual Assist USA covers such a wide range of industries. Further, you can find someone for just a project or for contract work, and if you like the output, then you are welcome to offer them a job.
- Pay your way: While other VA services commit you to hourly plans or rates, with Upwork, you negotiate the pay with your prospect. That way, you can pay by project or by the hour. FreeUp also has some room for negotiation for pay rates, but it does not let you pay by project.
- Choose your own VA: Upwork is the only VA service on our list that gives you complete freedom of choice—but this means you do the heavy lifting. You can create a job ad or search the existing freelancers with its intuitive search engine. You can then explore resumes, portfolios, and preferred pay scales of the candidates so you can select the best one for you.
- Experience and specialization: Upwork’s freelancers have a wide range of experience, and usually charge accordingly. For example, we found a US-based paralegal and administrative assistant with 25 years of experience asking $80 per hour and a generalist based out of Pakistan for $5 per hour. Others with more specific experience asked for as much as $200. With the exception of FreeUp, the others on our list offer the same price for all their VAs, regardless of expertise or experience.
Time etc: Best for Teams & Businesses Needing Highly Qualified, US-based VAs
Pros
- Hours roll over each month
- VAs chosen for attitude as well as experience and education
- Additional assistants as needed, free
- Can share your VA with your team
- Free trial
Cons
- No specializations
- No 24/7 service
- Not suited for one-time projects
- No pay-as-you-go option
- 10-hour minimum
Why We Chose
Time etc is an excellent virtual assistant service, and the ability to share a VA with anyone in your office makes it great for teams. It is based in the US and has employees all across the country, so it can work in your time zone, and you get native speakers with a more local accent. It has a strict vetting process, with only 2% of applicants qualifying (with an average of 12 years of experience as assistants). While more expensive than most on our list, its pricing is on the lower end of the US-based virtual assistant companies we explored—plus, you can try your first task for free.
Earning 4.1 out of 5 in our evaluation, Time etc ranked high with real-world users as well as for pricing and functionality. (Only FreeUp rated higher among users.) It lost points for VA tools because it does not have specializations such as accounting (like MyTasker), but sticks to general administrative and marketing duties. It has a fast hiring time and offers bilingual VAs if needed.
Time etc Pricing
Since our last update: Time etc’s prices have increased by $5 per hour.
Time etc is one of the few on our list that has a free plan: a task taking about 20 minutes. The packages are in set hours per month, which is typical of virtual assistant services. You can switch plans to add or subtract hours at any time, and you can roll over hours you didn’t use to the next month with the 20-hour plans and higher.
All plans come with a dedicated assistant, the ability to add extra assistants, share your VA team, and a satisfaction guarantee.
- 10 hours: $360/month ($36/hour)
- 20 hours: $700/month ($35/hour)
- 40 hours: $1,360/month ($34/hour)
- 60 hours: $1,980/month ($33/hour)
Time etc virtual assistants strive to be a part of your company. (Source: Time etc)
Time etc Features
- Free Trial: Time etc and Virtual Employee are the only virtual assistant companies on our list that give you a legitimate free trial (MyTasker charges $1). You can set up a single task with one of its virtual assistants (up to $25) to see how you like the service.
- Team VA: While many of the services we explored only allow one user per plan, Time etc lets you share your VA with multiple people. This is perfect for a small team or office that needs to share. Prialto’s team plan costs more and limits how many people you can share with.
- Rollover hours: Any hours you don’t use roll over to the next month, something MyTasker, Virtual Employee, and Prialto do not allow.
- Delegation support: If you’re used to doing it all yourself, a virtual assistant may seem baffling. Time etc can help you through the process. Just answer a few questions, and it will suggest exactly what tasks you can confidently offload to your new VA. Some, like Prialto, also consult with you, but Time etc also assigns you a client happiness manager to work with you through the process.
- Experienced, US-based VAs: Time etc has a strict vetting process so that only 2% of its applicants qualify. Their VAs often have experience in Fortune 500 companies and are selected for positive attitude and reliability, as well as education and technical qualifications. Plus, they are based in the US, and Time etc will find you one in your time zone.
- Wide range of tasks: While Time etc does not offer accounting like FreeUp or IT like Virtual Employee, its VAs can do any number of administrative tasks, from managing your schedule to keeping your CRM updated. They can research everything from restaurants to potential customers and assist with email campaigns or creating proposals.
Virtual Assist USA: Best Virtual Assistant Company for Specialized Industries
Pros
- Minimum 10 years’ experience
- Qualified for specialized industries
- Trained backups, team assistance
- No expiration dates on unused hours
Cons
- US-based only
- Expensive
- They choose your VA for you
- Cannot hire by task
Why We Chose
Most virtual assistant companies can handle day-to-day administrative tasks like email management, bookkeeping, and research; however, if you’re a hospital or a legal office, you may need someone more specialized. Virtual Assist USA offers US-based VAs to a variety of industries like these, plus dozens of others. It only hires US-based VAs with a minimum of 10 years of experience, so you are getting a highly qualified addition to your team. And, speaking of teams, they can provide you with a team of VAs instead of just one—so you have coverage even if your primary goes on vacation or extra help with a large project.
This service has a 4.09 out of 5 in our evaluation. As the most expensive on our list, it lost points for price but earned perfect scores for functionality and popularity. Its average user review rating was 4.5, which is high for all the services we considered, and just above average for those on this list. It lost a few points because it does not let you pay by task or choose your own VA, but overall did well in all categories.
Virtual Assist USA Pricing
Like most on our list, Virtual Assist USA has plans based on the number of hours per month; however, the hours never expire, so you can carry them from month to month. This is useful if your needs ebb and flow. You can also contact them for bigger plans with custom pricing.
Plans come with teams of assistants and backups as needed.
- 15 hours per month: $570
- 30 hours per month: $1,080
- 50 hours per month: $1,750
Virtual Assist USA also provides 45-minute strategy sessions with their CEO or COO for $99 per session.
Virtual Assist USA provides qualified VAs for a wide variety of industries. (Source: Virtual Assist USA)
Virtual Assist USA Features
- Highly qualified US-based VAs: If you need a virtual assistant with experience and expertise, this is the best service for it. Unlike the others on our list, Virtual Assist USA requires a minimum of 10 years’ worth of experience. Most tout averages, and FreeUp rates change by experience level.
- Wide range of industries: You can find VAs with experience in automotive, coaching, construction, engineering, health, insurance, legal, nonprofits, pharmaceutical, science, trucking, and more. It’s the most wide-reaching virtual assistant company that has qualified people. Further, it has VAs that are HIPAA-certified if needed and have experience in HIPAA compliance,
- Rollover hours: Virtual Assist USA tracks time used by the minute and lets you roll over unused hours to the next month. Some of the services that sell in packs of hours allow this (MyTasker, Virtual Employee, and Prialto do not; meanwhile, FreeUp only allows a percentage of hours to roll over).
- Team access at no extra charge: While you get a dedicated VA, if you have a specialized project that may take more than one person, like building a website, Virtual Assist USA will let you work with a team at no extra charge. It also provides a trained backup to fill in if your VA goes on vacation or gets ill (most on our list only offer backups).
- Strategy Sessions: Want to make sure you get the best not only from your VAs but all your employees and business practices? Virtual Assist USA offers strategizing sessions with their CEO or COO for $99 for 45 minutes, with recording and documentation. This is an extra service only Virtual Assist USA provides.
Remote CoWorker: Best for Startups
Pros
- Rolls over unused hours
- Fast hiring times (a day)
- Hourly pricing
- Bilingual workers (English/Spanish)
Cons
- No trained backups
- No option to pay by task
- Unlike others, does not limit to highly experienced employees
Why We Chose
We like Remote CoWorker for startups for three reasons: 1) It’s inexpensive; 2) If you don’t use the hours you paid for that month, you can get your money back instead of rolling over; and 3) It offers complete business process outsourcing. It offers English-fluent VAs from the Philippines and Costa Rica for general administrative work or specialized work in insurance, real estate, healthcare, law, and ecommerce.
It earned a 4.05 out of 5 on our rubric. In addition to the price and excellent rollover/refund policy, it can find you a hire quickly, has the second-highest number of industry specializations, and offers Spanish-speaking VAs. It lost points for not offering trained back-ups, although it offers 24/7 support. It has good user reviews, with an average score of 4.48 out of 5 stars, which is high, but about on par with the best virtual assistant services on our list.
Remote CoWorker Pricing
Remote CoWorker’s pricing is a little different. It is set as part time or full time, with an extra plan for bilingual VAs. Hours are rolled over to the next month as needed. Billing is done according to an hour-week billing cycle.
- Part-Time Starter: $8.99/hour
- Full-Time Starter: $7.99/hour
- Full-Time Bilingual: $9.99/hour
Remote CoWorker offers a Kanban-style project board for tracking tasks. (Source: Remote CoWorker)
Remote CoWorker Features
- Full BPO capabilities: Rather than hiring a single VA or a team with individual skills, you can select to outsource your business processes fully to Remote CoWorker. Remote CoWorker will track compliance rules, focus on development, and seek to simplify workflows and increase efficiencies. It says its clients are 80% more productive when they outsource.
- Money back for unused hours: Remote Employee is the only virtual assistant company on our list that can either roll over unused hours or refund the payment for unused hours back to your bank or credit card. This is great for companies where every dollar counts, like startups.
- Industry specializations: Remote CoWorker has VAs that specialize in the healthcare, insurance, and legal industries. You can trust them to file claims, do medical transcription, or do paralegal work. It’s second to Virtual Employer in specializations.
- Ecommerce and customer support: You can outsource everything from customer support to order fulfillment and inventory management to Remote CoWorker. Others can do some of these duties. You can also hire sales representatives from Remote CoWorker that can do lead-gen, cold or warm calling, client outreach, and more.
Virtual Employee: Best for Quickly Hiring a High-Quality VA
Pros
- Find a hire in less than 8 hours
- Full accounting services available
- Services include medical, engineering, IT
- You choose your VA from their recommendations
Cons
- Does not rollover hours
- Minimum $995 per month
- Non-transparent pricing
- No bilingual services
Why We Chose
Virtual Employee replaces FreeUp for the quickest time to hire, with an average hire time of less than eight hours. It also offers one of the widest ranges of industries from IT and animation to engineering and web design—and of course, the standard VA administrative and accounting duties. It can also act as an offshore office or extension in India. It also provides pro-bono work for charities.
Virtual Employee earned 3.85 out of 5 on our rubric. Only it and MyTasker has perfect scores for VA tools, plus it had a perfect score in popularity, with mostly 5-star reviews with praises for reliability and good communication. It does not have multilingual employees, aside from fluent English and Hindi. It offers 24/7 service in a multitude of industries and tasks.
Virtual Employee Pricing
Virtual Employee offers custom pricing depending on your hours and needs, but it says plans start at $995 per month. We did find some services with prices listed, such as taxation and bookkeeping at $7/hour, while data science work is $14 an hour. You’ll need to contact sales with your requirements.
Are you a charity? Virtual Employee offers virtual assistants free or at deep discounts for qualifying charities. You need to send them an application and documentation to see if you qualify. Learn more on their website.
Virtual Employee can get you a specialized VA in under eight hours. (Source: Virtual Employee)
Virtual Employee Features
- Task-based pricing: While it has a minimum fee, the hourly rates depend on the tasks you need. Thus, you aren’t overpaying your VA to do menial tasks but aren’t underpaying someone who deserves a higher rate for more technical work.
- Offshore office: Virtual Employee doesn’t just offer employees. It can act as an offshore office in India for you for recruitment, technical support, HR, and hardware and software support. None of the other virtual assistant services for small businesses provide this capability.
- Huge variety of skills: While most of the VA services on our list handle administrative, bookkeeping, and even IT, Virtual Employee goes beyond that with mobile app development, animation, and even 3D architectural renderings or retail space planning. If you have a specialized need, even in the short term, they are your best bet after UpWork, where you can hand-pick your specialist.
- Bespoke recruitment: If Virtual Employee does not have someone with the skills you need, they will go out and recruit someone. You’ll be able to set requirements and even test candidates at no cost. This is the only service on our list that does this kind of specialized recruitment.
- Dedicated employee or team model: Depending on your needs, you can hire a single employee for particular long-term or daily tasks, or employ a mix of specialists with particular skills for projects or as your long-term offshore team.
Prialto: Best for Sales & Insurance Companies
Pros
- Get organization-level VA support
- Does not charge if you go over hours
- Specialists for real estate, insurance, and other industries
- Backup VAs available
- Can get technically proficient VAs
Cons
- Onboarding takes 3–5 days
- No pay-as-you-go option
- No accounting services
- Can take several days to get your VA
- Minimum 55 hours ($1,450/month)
Why We Chose
If you need a virtual assistant for your sales or insurance office, one who can answer to several departments and has training in your field and software, then Prialto is your best bet. It vets its VAs and matches them to your needs. Its VAs specialize not just in executive assistant duties like calendars, task management, and expense management, but also in sales and customer relationship management.
Its plans span from individual VAs to ones covering an entire organization. The rates are slightly higher than many but still competitive at $26.36 per hour. Even more, if you go over your hours for one month, they don’t charge you for the extra time.
Prialto earned 3.72 in our evaluation. It got a perfect score for functionality, as it provides skilled VAs trained in the latest technology, Spanish-speaking services, and backup VAs as needed. It also got a perfect score for popularity because of its high user reviews (averaging 4.6 out of 5 across several third-party user-review sites). However, it took a hit on pricing because it alone charges a setup fee of $250 and has a 90-day minimum. It also lacks a pay-as-you-go option or task-based pricing.
Prialto Pricing
Since Our Last Update: Prialto has increased its prices by $100 per unit, and plans have also been renamed.
Prialto is the only virtual assistant service for small businesses that charges a setup fee, although if you sign up for an annual contract, this is waived. It’s also unique in that it has a 90-day minimum commitment; the rest have a monthly commitment at most. It charges by units of 55 hours per month. Prialto does not roll over hours, but unlike any others we reviewed, does not charge if you occasionally go over your allotted hours.
- Units ($1,450): 55 hours
- Setup fee: $250 (Waived for annual contract)
- Individual (1 unit/month minimum): 1 user, 55 hours/month, quarterly consultations
- Team (3 units/month minimum): 3+ users, 165+ hours/month (discounts for contract duration), monthly consultations
- Enterprise (8 units/month minimum): 8+ users, 440+ hours/month, organizationwide process design, reporting, dedicated cohort of assistance, team lead support, temporary workforce augmentation
Prialto has a hands-on approach to helping you get started with your VA. (Source: Prialto)
Prialto Features
- Specialized industries: Prialto has experience in the real estate and insurance industries, as well as executive and sales assistant duties. Several on our list handle real estate, but only Virtual Assist USA and Remote CoWorker mention insurance as well.
- Team and organization support: With Prialto’s team and organization plans, you can share one virtual assistant with several members of your company. VAs can help with reminders, organize workflows, handle the calendars of multiple users, and more. The Enterprise plan includes process design and a team of VAs, plus the ability to assign one-off projects.
- Managed service: Prialto’s claim to fame is that it’s a managed service. Each virtual assistant is backed by an engagement manager, support teams, and trained primary and secondary backups. Like MyTasker, they work in a single office so they can provide immediate support. Further, they provide their VAs with the programs and training for the business software you use.
- Proactive support: Like Time etc, Prialto will meet with you first to discuss your needs and how its VAs can help. However, it goes the extra step by encouraging the VAs to proactively seek ways they can assist you further. In most virtual assistant services, the VA only handles the tasks you send. Users reviewing on Virtual Assistant Assistant give high praise to the initiative of Prialto’s VAs.
- Networking: Prialto’s VAs can provide professional networking support, from managing LinkedIn requests to setting up meetings.
How to Choose a Virtual Assistant Company
When considering a virtual assistant, the first thing to consider is skill vs price and location. Some companies, like Time etc, hire highly experienced, US-only virtual assistants and charge a premium price. Others, like Remote CoWorker, outsource to countries like India or the Philippines and hire people with varying degrees of experience, but they are much cheaper.
Next, if you have industry-specific needs, like real estate or healthcare, then look for services that offer VAs with those qualifications. It can save you time and training. You’ll also want to be sure that security matches your industry’s needs—like HIPAA compliance for the healthcare community.
Speaking of security, ask if your VA will sign an NDA and what security features they offer for the transmission of information. At the very least, you want PCI and SOC1 or 2-level security for transmitting any personal or financial information.
How much control do you want over choosing your VA? Some, like Upwork, let you do everything from search to interview. Others select the VA based on your requirements. Most will give you a choice of a few they’ve selected.
Finally, check reviews and user-review sites. Be sure to check the date and level of detail for the reviews. You want current information, and details make it less likely that the site has been spammed with positive (or negative) reviews. If you don’t find many, ask for references.
The best virtual assistant companies charge on a monthly basis without contract, but ask about refund policies and how to get a replacement if your VA does not work out.
How We Evaluated the Best Virtual Assistant Companies
The virtual assistant industry has exploded post-pandemic. We examined over 30 virtual assistant services, eliminating those that didn’t have multiple years of experience or which were not well known in business circles. Next, we evaluated them using the criteria below. Those scoring 3.5 or higher or that stood out in another way made this list.
Click through the tabs below for our full evaluation criteria:
20% of Overall Score
Pricing considered hourly rate, although most services charge a monthly plan. We also gave points for a trial—whether a free task or a supervised evaluation period. Credit went to services that rolled over hours or charged hourly only.
20% of Overall Score
This covered the scope of virtual assistant services. We gave the best marks to those that went beyond the standard administrative and marketing/social media functions that nearly all covered. We looked for bookkeeping, specialization, and 24/7 service.
15% of Overall Score
This looked at communication, security, backups in case your VA was sick, and multilingual services (aside from English and the VA’s native language).
10% of Overall Score
We examined user reviews for overall rating and satisfaction with the assistant and support.
10% of Overall Score
Most of the services we considered had monthly plans, so here, we looked for extras—a by-task or hourly option—as well as security of payments.
25% of Overall Score
We considered the interface, ease of picking the right virtual assistant, and dashboard.
Virtual Assistant Companies Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Virtual assistants can take on the duties of an in-person VA that you employ yourself. However, when you hire a virtual assistant through a company, they take on the burdens of health care, payroll taxes, and benefits. Thus, you can save time and money. It’s also easier to scale the number of hours up or down.
If you need a VA that is handling highly sensitive materials, you may not want to hire a virtual assistant, although most sign NDAs and are well-vetted. You also should not hire a virtual assistant if you need someone on-premise or who can provide immediate turnaround of tasks.
Virtual assistants can handle administrative tasks of just about any kind, like managing your schedule, recording expenses or tracking receipts, data entry, formatting or editing documents, transcribing, social media work, and general sales administration. Some are qualified for light bookkeeping, website updates, SEO work, and more. Finally, many can do research for specific answers, planning, or marketing.
It depends on the kind of virtual assistant you are looking for. We’ve listed eight of the websites for finding virtual assistants. FreeUp, of course, is our top choice if you need a highly qualified VA for administrative tasks. If you need a VA for a project, Upwork is the best choice, as you can hand-pick one for a short-term basis. If you need a VA for more technical work like engineering, consider Virtual Employee.
Expect to pay from $5 an hour to $75+. Prices depend on experience, qualifications, expertise, and task type. Cheaper virtual assistants are likely non-U.S. FreeUp’s VAs from overseas can cost as little as $5 per hour, for example.
Bottom Line
Administrative tasks have to be done, but they can eat up the time you need to focus on growing your business. A dedicated virtual assistant can take over simple tasks like calendar and email management, but many do much more—social media, marketing research, and even website design. Others can handle special projects as well. The best virtual assistant services match you up with a great VA that you can depend on.
FreeUp took the No. 1 spot for best virtual assistant service with skilled services for administration, marketing, accounting, and research. You pay based on skill, experience, and location of your VA, giving you a lot of flexibility. It has excellent ratings from real-world users. Start by trying a single task for only a dollar.
