Virtual Assistant Rate Calculator

What virtual assistants actually charge

Partly survey-backedEvery figure below carries its source, year and — where the publisher discloses it — sample size.

What we could not verify: No US virtual assistant rate survey exists — IVAA publishes nothing accessible, so all US figures here come from marketplace data alone. The UK 2025 client-facing rate is also paywalled, so the £32.35 average is 2024.

Hourly, project or retainer?

Hourly, and prepaid retainer hour-blocks dominates this field.

The work is genuinely time-denominated and interruptive, the client is buying capacity rather than a defined outcome, and tasks are too varied to package. Retainers here solve your cash-flow and scheduling problem — they do not reprice the work, since a ten-hour block is still sold at an hourly rate. Value-based pricing largely fails in this field because you cannot attribute a business outcome to inbox management.

Realistic billable hours

22–30 hours a week for full-time work. This profession has the widest hours distribution of any here — a large share of UK VAs work part-time deliberately. Billable share also falls as client count rises, because admin overhead per client is high when clients are numerous and individually low-value.

This is the input people get most wrong. A 40-hour week does not contain 40 billable hours — pitching, admin, invoicing and marketing all come out of it first, and the difference between assuming 40 and assuming 26 changes your required rate by more than any other single number on this page.

Overheads specific to this field

Three pricing mistakes specific to virtual assistants

1. Selling discounted hour blocks that never expire. You give the discount up front, the hours are drawn down months later at last year's rate, and you carry a growing unbilled liability. An expiry term is the highest-leverage clause in a VA contract.
2. Pricing against the offshore marketplace floor. A $13/hr global median against a £32.35 UK survey average describes two different markets, and benchmarking against the wrong one prices you below viability.
3. Charging one rate for admin and specialist work. Specialists command £50+/hr against a £32 average — bolting bookkeeping or CRM work onto an admin retainer at the admin rate gives away the entire premium.

Common questions

How much should a freelance virtual assistant charge?

£32.35/hr average; specialists £50+/hr (Society of Virtual Assistants UK VA Survey, 2024). That is a market reference, not your number — your rate depends on your target income, your overheads and how many hours you can actually bill. The calculator on this page works it out from your own figures.

Should a virtual assistant charge hourly or per project?

Hourly, and prepaid retainer hour-blocks dominates this field. The work is genuinely time-denominated and interruptive, the client is buying capacity rather than a defined outcome, and tasks are too varied to package. Retainers here solve your cash-flow and scheduling problem — they do not reprice the work, since a ten-hour block is still sold at an hourly rate. Value-based pricing largely fails in this field because you cannot attribute a business outcome to inbox management.

How many billable hours can a freelance virtual assistant expect?

Roughly 22–30 hours a week for full-time work. This profession has the widest hours distribution of any here — a large share of UK VAs work part-time deliberately. Billable share also falls as client count rises, because admin overhead per client is high when clients are numerous and individually low-value.

Next steps

Once you have a floor rate, two things decide whether it holds. First, whether the market bears it — the guide to setting your freelance rate covers finding your ceiling and positioning between the two. Second, what you keep after tax, which varies enormously by country: our Freelance Tax Index compares the total burden across 15 countries, and several charge you money even in a zero-income year.