There are more virtual assistant companies than ever, and they look almost identical from the outside. Pricing is often hidden, vetting claims all sound the same, and the real terms are buried in the contract.
So we did the digging for you. We read the fine print, pulled the real pricing, and ranked ten of the biggest services on what actually matters once someone is working for you. Here is where each one wins.
Types of VA services
Four broad models, and which one fits depends on how hands-on you want to be.The company hires, trains, manages, and replaces your assistant, and gives you a dedicated person. Most options here work this way.
A platform like Upwork where you hire freelancers directly. The widest range of skills, but you do the vetting and managing.
The company finds and places a full-time hire who works for you, and handles payroll, benefits, and compliance, an arrangement sometimes called an employer of record. You manage the day-to-day work.
A shared pool of assistants who pick up tasks as they come, often around the clock. Good for overflow and off-hours work.
How we evaluated them
We’ve worked in this industry for more than ten years, and a good part of that was spent in the Philippines, where a lot of these assistants are hired and trained. So instead of ranking these companies off their homepages, we went through each one the way a buyer would.
For every service we pulled the real starting price, including the fees that only surface once you’re in a contract. We read the terms of service closely, because that’s where the commitment periods, the cancellation notice, and the buyout clauses live. We looked at how selective each company actually is and what its screening involves. We checked what happens after your assistant starts: the training, the ongoing coaching, and who covers the work when your assistant is sick or on leave. And we weighed each company’s standing on independent review platforms like Trustpilot, rather than the testimonials on its own site.
Then we compared all ten across the nine things that change your day once someone is actually working for you:
Why trust us
We run a virtual assistant company ourselves, Magic, so we’ll say the obvious thing first: Magic is in this guide, and we have a reason to want it to look good. That’s exactly why we held it to the same nine criteria as everyone else and called out where it falls short, including its lower public review count and its buyout fee. A guide that only flatters the company writing it isn’t worth reading, and you’d see through it anyway.
What we do bring is a decade in this industry and years spent where these teams are built and trained. We’ve read the contracts most buyers skim and pulled pricing that isn’t always on the homepage. We’ve also tracked how these services actually deliver once the sales call is over. When a company is good at something, we say so, whoever it is. Boldly’s people are more experienced than ours, and ClearDesk has more reviews. Upwork can staff roles we can’t. You’ll find all of that below.
Quick picks
The four standouts. Tap any to jump to the full review, or read all ten below.
The 10 virtual assistant services, reviewed
Best fully managed services
Companies that hire, train, manage, and replace your assistant for you.
Magic
- Assistants get unlimited paid access to top LLMs and AI tools like Claude, with training to use them
- Fully managed: hiring, training, coaching, and replacements handled for you
- 24/7 coverage, including nights and weekends
- Broad task range across business and personal work
- Talent is based only in the Philippines and Latin America, so it's not a fit if you need a US-based assistant
- Not built for highly specialized or senior roles, like a senior developer or designer
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Starting Price | $270/wk part-time, $540/wk full-time |
| Talent based in | Philippines and Latin America; work in the client's time zone |
| Model | Managed, dedicated 1:1, plus a 24/7 on-demand pool |
| Commitment | No long-term contract; cancel anytime |
| Vetting | About 1 in 200 applicants |
| AI | Assistants get unlimited paid access to top LLMs and AI tools like Claude |
Magic is a fully managed service, so most of the work happens before your assistant ever starts. You get on a call to scope out what you need, Magic matches you with an assistant based on your preferences, and that person is already trained by the time they begin. From there Magic handles the ongoing management and the billing, so you work with Magic rather than taking on an employee of your own.
The assistants themselves get unlimited paid access to top LLMs and AI tools like Claude, and are trained to use them before working with you. Most services here either skip AI or train assistants on a few free tools. Full-time plans also include Magic 24/7, a pool that picks up tasks at night and on weekends when your dedicated assistant is offline, and if your assistant ever leaves, Magic finds a replacement with your preferences already saved.
On price, full-time lands in the same range as the other value picks, but with the AI access and 24/7 backup included rather than paid for on top. That mix of price, coverage, and AI is why it tops this guide.
Magic accepts about 1 in 200 applicants, with assistants based in the Philippines and Latin America who work to your time zone. The Philippines team aligns to the client’s hours, and the Latin America team is already on US time zones. The range is wide, covering business and personal work across more than a hundred task types.
Here is what “fully managed” actually means day to day. Onboarding starts with a scoping call, and your preferences are saved to your account so the assistant has them before the first task. If the work isn’t right, you raise it with your Magic point of contact, who coaches the assistant or, if it still isn’t a fit, matches you with a replacement at no extra cost and carries your saved preferences over so you aren’t starting from scratch. Throughout, Magic handles the management, payroll, and coverage rather than handing you an employee to oversee.
Skip if: you need a US-based assistant, or someone highly specialized or senior, like a senior developer, at a premium price.
ClearDesk
- One of the best-reviewed services in its tier
- Under 0.5% acceptance, with background checks and DISC testing
- Broad role range including healthcare, bookkeeping, and recruiting
- Competitive full-time pricing, with annual discounts
- A single dedicated VA, with no clear backup if they're unavailable
- No proprietary AI tooling
- Relatively new, with a shorter track record than the big names
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Starting Price | $2,500/mo full-time (180 hrs); $1,950 on an annual commitment |
| Talent based in | Mostly Philippines, plus others; HQ San Diego |
| Model | Managed, dedicated full-time VA |
| Commitment | Month-to-month default; 6 or 12-month for a discount |
| Vetting | Under 0.5% of applicants |
| AI | No AI tooling of its own |
ClearDesk is the closest competitor to Magic on price, and it’s one of the most consistently well-reviewed services in its tier. Hiring is genuinely selective at under 0.5% of applicants, screened with background checks, skills tests, and a DISC assessment. Full-time runs $2,500 a month, dropping to $1,950 on an annual commitment.
The gap is continuity. It’s a single dedicated VA with no formal backup, so if your assistant is out, you feel it. And there’s no built-in AI support beyond whatever tools the assistant brings on their own.
Skip if: you need guaranteed coverage when your assistant is away, or built-in AI support.
Wing
- Among the most affordable dedicated options
- Proprietary workspace app with multi-tier quality control
- Sector-specific plans for healthcare, real estate, and more
- Backup VA included on higher-tier plans
- Auto-renews, with a 10-day cancellation notice and a non-refundable deposit
- Vetting process is the least documented here
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Starting Price | ~$699 to $999/mo part-time; ~$999 to $1,599 full-time |
| Talent based in | Philippines and global; US plans at a premium |
| Model | Managed, dedicated VA |
| Commitment | Monthly, auto-renews, 10-day cancellation notice |
| Vetting | Roughly 100 to 200 people screened per hire |
| AI | Proprietary workspace app with AI monitoring |
Wing is the budget-friendly way into a dedicated assistant, starting under $1,000 a month for part-time. You get a proprietary workspace app, multi-tier quality control, and sector-specific plans for things like healthcare and real estate. For a startup watching spend, it’s a lot of structure for the price.
Read the billing terms first, though. Plans auto-renew, cancellation needs 10 days’ notice, and there’s a non-refundable deposit, plus a three-year clause that stops you hiring the assistant off-platform. The vetting process is also the least documented of any service here.
Skip if: you want friction-free cancellation, or a clear, published vetting standard.
Wishup
- 7-day money-back guarantee, rare in this set
- Fast matching, often within a day or two
- Free workforce-management app for clients
- Assistants pre-trained on dozens of tools
- Acceptance claims swing from 0.1% to 1% and are hard to verify
- No weekend coverage
- Less brand recognition outside the SMB segment
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Starting Price | ~$999 part-time to ~$2,999 full-time; $1,299 most common |
| Talent based in | India, plus a growing US and Philippines presence |
| Model | Managed, dedicated pre-trained VA |
| Commitment | Month-to-month |
| Vetting | Claims top 0.1% to 1%, depending on the page |
| AI | Assistants pre-trained on 70+ tools; free workforce app |
Wishup is built for speed and low risk. It markets matching in as little as a day, pre-trains assistants on dozens of tools, and backs it with a 7-day money-back guarantee that almost no one else offers.
The thing to watch is the vetting claim, which swings from top 1% to top 0.1% depending on the page, so treat the selectivity numbers with some caution. There’s also no weekend coverage, so it suits standard business-hours work better than around-the-clock needs.
Skip if: you want round-the-clock coverage, or vetting claims you can verify.
Best for executive assistants
Dedicated, one-to-one support for calendars, inboxes, and the work of running an executive’s day.
Boldly
- W2 employees with 10 to 15 years of experience
- Each EA trains a backup, so coverage holds when they're out
- College-educated EAs, many with Fortune 500 backgrounds
- US and UK based, so no time-zone gap
- Among the most expensive options here
- No AI in service delivery, by design
- Built around a single senior hire, not a broad task platform
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Starting Price | $2,600/mo for 40 hours a month (under 10 hrs/week) |
| Talent based in | US and UK |
| Model | Managed, dedicated 1:1 EA (W2 employees) |
| Commitment | Month-to-month, no contract |
| Vetting | Under 1% acceptance; senior talent |
| AI | None, by positioning |
Boldly is the most senior human option in this guide. Its assistants are W2 employees with a decade or more of experience, many from Fortune 500 backgrounds, and each one trains a backup so coverage doesn’t vanish when they’re out.
You pay for that seniority. Plans start at $2,600 a month, but that buys only 40 hours a month, under 10 hours a week, so the effective hourly rate is steep. Boldly also deliberately avoids AI, leaning entirely on experienced people. If you want a seasoned EA in your own time zone and budget isn’t the constraint, it’s hard to fault.
Skip if: you’re price-sensitive, or you want assistants who work with modern AI tools.
Athena
- One of the most rigorous EA vetting processes, around 0.5%
- Intensive onboarding and ongoing 1:1 coaching
- Dedicated 1:1, with no sharing
- The most expensive option in this guide
- Highest commitment, with a 12-month standard plan
- Executive-assistant work for founders only; no other roles
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Starting Price | $3,000/mo on an annual plan; $3,600/mo for 90-day then monthly |
| Talent based in | Philippines |
| Model | Managed, dedicated 1:1 EA |
| Commitment | 12-month standard |
| Vetting | Around 0.5% of applicants |
| AI | Enterprise ChatGPT license; no tooling of its own |
Athena does one thing: it places a single executive assistant with a founder. Getting started is a rigid process, with detailed intake and upfront fees, and then Athena assigns an EA. There is no tailoring by need; every client gets an executive assistant, so if you want customer support, marketing, or a specialist role, Athena isn’t built for it.
It’s also the most expensive option in this guide. Athena pays its assistants in line with other Philippines-based services but charges you the most, so a lot of what you pay is brand and process. The vetting and onboarding are rigorous, but there is little public evidence the day-to-day quality beats cheaper competitors, and reviews are mixed. If you want that structured, high-touch EA model and find it worth the premium, Athena delivers it.
Skip if: you want a wider task range or specialist roles, or you’d rather not pay the most for an EA-only service.
Prialto
- Team-based model means backup is structural, not optional
- A month of training before an assistant is placed
- Strong B2B track record with over a million hours logged
- Reasonable price for what's included
- Three-month initial commitment
- Built for recurring workflows, less for ad hoc variety
- No AI platform
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Starting Price | From $1,450/mo per 55-hr unit, plus setup |
| Talent based in | Asia and Central America; HQ Portland |
| Model | Managed, team-based (primary plus trained backup) |
| Commitment | 3-month initial, then month-to-month |
| Vetting | Structured; rate not published |
| AI | Internal workflow systems; no AI tooling |
Prialto is the pick for teams with repeatable processes. Its team-based model is the key difference: every assistant has a trained backup built in, so if one person is out, the team absorbs it. Outside of Magic, no service here handles continuity better.
Assistants go through a month of training before they touch your account, and the company has a deep B2B track record with over a million hours logged. It asks for a three-month commitment to start, and it’s tuned for recurring workflows rather than scattered, ad hoc requests.
Skip if: you want zero commitment, or your work is highly varied and unpredictable.
BELAY
- US-based assistants across all 48 states
- Selective 3% acceptance for a US-only pool
- Long, well-known track record since 2010
- Free rematch if the first fit doesn't work
- Among the most expensive options
- No structured backup coverage
- No AI platform
- Quote-only pricing, no public rates
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Starting Price | ~$3,800/mo, quote-based |
| Talent based in | United States |
| Model | Managed, dedicated 1:1 (1099 contractors) |
| Commitment | Month-to-month, 30-day notice |
| Vetting | About 3% of applicants |
| AI | None |
BELAY is the answer when US-based is non-negotiable. Its assistants are contractors across the US, it’s been around since 2010, and it’s one of the most recognized names in the category. Acceptance sits around 3%, which is high for a US-only pool.
The costs add up. It’s quote-based and lands near $3,800 a month, and there’s no structured backup if your assistant is out. No AI tooling either.
Skip if: you’re fine with talent based outside the US and want to pay much less, or you need backup coverage.
Best for specialist or direct hires
For when you want a specific skill set, or to hire and own the person yourself.
Upwork
- The widest talent range anywhere, from VAs to senior developers and designers
- Start and stop contracts freely
- Huge marketplace with detailed reviews per freelancer
- No agency markup
- You do all the vetting, training, and management
- Quality varies widely from person to person
- No backup if a freelancer disappears
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Starting Price | Varies by freelancer, plus Upwork fees |
| Talent based in | Global marketplace |
| Model | Marketplace; you hire freelancers directly |
| Commitment | Per-contract |
| Vetting | None by the platform; you screen |
| AI | Platform-level matching only |
Upwork is a marketplace rather than a managed service. You can hire almost any role at any seniority, from a part-time VA to a senior developer, and open or close contracts whenever you want. For specialist or one-off work, nothing here matches its range.
The catch is that the work falls on you: vetting, onboarding, managing, and quality control. There’s no backup if your freelancer disappears, quality swings from person to person, and you can’t take talent off the platform to hire them directly.
Skip if: you want a managed, vetted, hands-off experience, or guaranteed coverage.
Pearl Talent
- Places full-time hires across 13 role types, including developers and finance
- You hire the person directly
- Rigorous 5-step vetting
- 6-week AI bootcamp before placement
- You carry the ongoing management and coverage
- Newer brand, with a shorter track record
- Placement model, so no platform backup
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Starting Price | $3,000/mo managed (cancel anytime), or ~$7,500 placement |
| Talent based in | Philippines, Latin America, and South Africa |
| Model | Talent placement and employer of record |
| Commitment | Monthly, cancel anytime |
| Vetting | Top ~0.8% to 1%, via a 5-step process |
| AI | 6-week AI bootcamp before placement |
Pearl Talent is built for assembling your own team. It places full-time hires across roles like operations, finance, marketing, and engineering, and you hire the person directly. Vetting is a rigorous five-step process, and candidates go through a six-week AI bootcamp before placement.
The model puts more on you. Once placed, you manage the person and cover their time off yourself, and there’s no platform backup. As a newer brand, it has less of a track record so far.
Skip if: you want a fully managed service, or you’d rather not handle day-to-day management yourself.
How to choose
Common questions about virtual assistant services
How does Magic handle quality issues with an assistant?
If the work isn’t meeting your standards, you raise it with your Magic point of contact rather than managing the fix yourself. Magic coaches the assistant on the specific gap, and if it still isn’t the right fit, it matches you with a replacement at no extra cost. Your saved preferences carry over, so a new assistant starts with the context the last one had.
Is Magic a managed service, or do I manage the assistant myself?
It’s managed. Magic handles hiring, training, day-to-day oversight, payroll, and replacements, so you work with Magic rather than employing the assistant directly. You still set priorities and assign the work, but Magic owns the management layer: coaching, coverage when your assistant is off, and finding a replacement if one is needed.
What types of tasks is Magic not the right fit for?
Magic isn’t the right fit if you need a US-based assistant, since its talent is based in the Philippines and Latin America, or if you need a senior specialist such as a lead developer or designer. It’s built for executive, administrative, and general business and personal support, not highly specialized or senior technical roles. For those, a marketplace like Upwork or a placement service is a better match.
How much does a virtual assistant service cost?
It ranges widely. Lighter part-time plans start under $1,000 a month. Full-time dedicated assistants run from about $1,450 to $3,600 a month, depending on the service and where the assistant is based. On-demand help can start around $199 a week.
Are virtual assistants employees or contractors?
It depends on the service. Boldly uses W2 employees in the US and UK. Others use offshore employees managed by the company, or independent contractors. On a marketplace like Upwork, you contract freelancers directly.
What’s the difference between a managed service and a marketplace?
A managed service handles hiring, training, oversight, and replacements for you, and gives you a dedicated assistant. A marketplace like Upwork gives you access to freelancers, but you do the vetting, managing, and quality control yourself.
What is a buyout fee?
Some services charge a fee if you want to hire your assistant directly and move them off the platform. It’s usually buried in the terms rather than advertised, and most of these services aren’t built around it. A few don’t charge one at all.
How fast can I get matched with an assistant?
Most managed services match you within a few days to about two weeks. Some, like Wishup, market faster matching. Marketplaces depend entirely on how quickly you post and screen.
Can a virtual assistant handle personal tasks, not just work?
Some services are executive-assistant only and stay focused on business tasks. Others, including Magic, handle both business and personal work like travel, reservations, and errands.
Do virtual assistant services use AI?
Most don’t. Some, like Athena and Wishup, train their assistants on third-party tools. Magic trains every assistant to use AI before they start and gives them access to premium models like Claude at no extra cost, which they use for research, spreadsheets, and lead lists.
