What are the most affordable virtual assistant services?
You could use some extra assistance these days, but it’s not like your bank account is bursting at the seams and you have a affordable virtual assistant to do your bidding at all hours of the day and night.
But wouldn’t that be nice?
But, luckily, you don’t have to spend a fortune to start reducing your workload. In reality, you can begin personal or business outsourcing for as little as $50 per month.
I combed through the VirtualAssistantAssistant.com website to compile this list of the most affordable virtual assistant firms. I’ve personally reviewed all of these offerings and will do my best to share examples of use cases where possible.
Are you prepared? Let’s get started.
Yateman International
Yateman International is a leading virtual assistant service provider in the United States. When entrepreneurs and business owners need a dependable virtual assistant for their company, they switch to Yateman International. Their virtual assistants are well-known for their dependability and high-quality services, as 98.9 percent of their clients return to them for their virtual assistant needs.
Important Characteristics
- Dedicated account manager, regular status updates, and phone or email help available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s like getting your own employee just a click away.
- There is no contract or set-up fee. Pricing transparency.
- They only recruit the top 1% of virtual professionals after a 3-step hiring process.
The Hiring of a Virtual Assistant
- Book a free consultation on their website and explain your needs.
- They will appoint you a dedicated virtual professional as well as an account manager.
Benefits
- Your remaining hours will be carried forward and will never expire.
- During normal business hours, the virtual assistant will still be available by phone.
Fiverr
This platform is renowned for finding low-cost professional and emerging freelancers. I like Fiverr’s a la carte ordering system because it eliminates the need to post a job description and wait for offers.
Instead, you find someone who can do exactly what you need and click the “buy now” button to get started. Fiverr excels in terms of speed, ease of use, and affordability.
You can use Fiverr for the following purposes:
- website graphics
- Social networking photos from blogs
- Book jackets (including the cover of the Virtual Assistant Assistant book)
- Professional support and troubleshooting for websites
- Site speed optimizations
- Infographics on Chatbots
- Introductory voiceovers for podcasts
- Introductory video sequences and more
These gigs have ranged in price from $5 to over $300 for more time-intensive technical projects.
(If you don’t want to deal with inexperienced sellers, Fiverr Pro — pre-vetted and hand-selected professionals — is a great option.)
The platform truly has a variety of resources and is always the first place I go when I have a short idea I’d like to try out. Because it’s so cheap, I frequently test multiple sellers at once, particularly for subjective tasks like graphics, and then choose my favorite.
My simple technique for finding high-quality providers is to look for whatever assistance I need, and then locate sellers and gigs with a high number of positive feedback.
Fiverr Advantages:
- Inexpensive — also to test many service providers — recruiting speed
- A wide range of virtual services are available.
Cons of Fiverr:
- Quality can vary greatly, particularly at lower price points.
- Choosing a service provider can be time-consuming.
- The platform seems to have a high turnover rate — if you find a great freelancer, try to get their contact information in case they quit using Fiverr!
MyTasker
based in India MyTasker has been providing VA services for over 8 years, with plans beginning at $140 a month for 10 hours of service with a dedicated assistant. This can seem to be a little more expensive, but you get a dedicated assistant, which makes a significant difference in communication and productivity.
MyTasker virtual assistants are qualified to perform a wide range of roles, including administrative duties, web analysis, social media management, virtual receptionists, and much more. Many clients come to them for assistance with:
- Accounting and bookkeeping
- Writing and editing
- IT support
- Web design and development
- and more
OnlineJobs.ph
OnlineJobs.ph has established itself as the leading forum for locating skilled virtual assistants in the Philippines. The strength of OnlineJobs’ filtering mechanism is what makes it so appealing. It’s essentially a resume database, with filters for the date the listing was made, skills needed, skill level (very important), and desired salary.
The platform is specifically designed to help you find a full-time or part-time virtual team member–40 or 20 hours per week.
To be able to contact the staff, the rates begin at $69 per month. You can filter and check as much as you want, but you won’t be able to connect with the staff before you pay.
OkayRelax
OkayRelax is favorite task-based virtual assistant program, with monthly plans beginning at $29.95 for 5 tasks lasting up to 30 minutes.
There are tiers of the OkayRelax program, the 2nd step which is currently $99.95 a month for 25 tasks — but most significantly, it provides you with a dedicated assistant to whom you can assign tasks at any time.
While using a pool of assistants may be beneficial for some activities, such as general administrative and research tasks, I prefer the continuity and learning that occurs over time with a dedicated assistant.
One cool feature of OkayRelax is that if you have a task that takes longer than 30 minutes, you can simply ask your assistant to charge as many tasks as they need to complete the task.
OkayRelax Advantages:
- Extremely low-cost dedicated assistant strategy
- Assistants work during US business hours, and you can assign longer tasks if necessary.
- Reliable support — I’ve had four OkayRelax assistants, and they’ve all been outstanding.
OkayRelax Cons:
- Since it is a joint assistant program, job turnaround times can be sluggish at times.
- During busy months, I occasionally run out of tasks (they let me renew early so we could get back to work!).
- The task request ticket system can send out more emails than is required.
Tasks Expert
Tasks Expert has four different pricing plans. Rates start as low as $4.50/hr for their largest hourly plan, and are as high as $9.50/hr for their pay-as-you-go-plan.
A complete list of their pricing plans at the time of publishing is:
- Bronze – $9.50/hr on a pay-as-you-go basis.
- Silver – $6.50/hr for 40 hours.
- Gold – $5.50/hr for 80 hours.
- Platinum – $4.50/hr for 160 hours.
Fancy Hands
Fancy Hands charges $29.99 a month for all virtual assistance located in the United States.
This schedule gives you access to Fancy Hands’ extensive selection of assistants for up to five 20-minute assignments. I actually pre-pay for the annual plan so that I have a large pool of tasks to which I can delegate for less than $4 each.
Fancy Hands employs a team-based strategy, in which the tasks are queued alongside the demands of all other customers. Then, whoever is available and eligible will complete them for you.
Fancy Hands Advantages:
- A wide pool of US-based assistants ensures that tasks are completed quickly — sometimes in less than 20 minutes for basic requests.
- For more in-depth work, you may authorize the use of several tasks.
- Excellent for one-time tasks that can be summarized in an email. (You can also order tasks through the Fancy Hands app by phone or voice message.)
Fancy Hands Cons:
- I’ve discovered that some assistants are better than others, and since it’s not a dedicated operation, you get who you get.
- Even if you say it’s OK in your initial request, longer tasks require secondary written permission.
- Some tasks will have to wait in the queue for a while; they must not appear to be simple or fast to complete!
Task Virtual
Task Virtual costs $39 a month for 20 tasks or $60 for 5 hours of dedicated VA work.
In addition to administrative activities, the India-based VA firm lists real estate management, ecommerce management, and social media management as fields of specialization.
Tasks in the task-based plan are described as small jobs that take 10-15 minutes to complete. On the dedicated assistant front, $60 is among the most affordable prices I’ve seen.
Stuff
Stuff is an interesting new personal assistant app, where you can submit “unlimited” requests for a flat $50 a month. (An earlier iteration of the app was called Delegate.
Back when it was Delegate, I put it through its paces for tasks like:
- Product investigation (Which are the best lightweight khaki shorts for men? Where do I get new blinds?)
- Reservations at restaurants
- Organizing events (Which nigiri restaurant in Seattle has the best nigiri?)
I honestly have trouble thinking of personal tasks to give them, but I can see how this will be a useful service to practically have in your pocket.
Wervas
Wervas, an abbreviation for We “R” Virtual Assistants, is a leading provider of low-cost virtual assistants in India.
Task-based plans begin at $50 per month for 25 tasks and can be as low as $1 per task if you order 200 per month.
What constitutes a task?
Wervas’ website includes a list of events such as:
- administrative assistance
- lifestyle assistance
- Travel assistance,
- email management,
- social media posting,
- small online analysis,
- appointment scheduling,
- and other services are available.
Wervas’ hourly plans start at $100 a month for 10 hours of service.
AskSunday
For more than a decade, the venerable Ask Sunday has provided virtual assistant services.
They deliver a $79 per month package that includes the first 5 hours of work for those just starting out in the world of outsourcing.
If you need extra assistance, you do not need to upgrade or commit to a larger plan; additional hours are automatically billed at $17 per hour.
In recent years, the India-based firm has changed its focus to supporting entrepreneurs and small companies, but it still accepts individual clients in need of assistance.
Tasks Assistant
Tasks Assistant, a newer VA business in India, offers 10 hours of virtual assistant help for $70. The company also has a 5-hour free trial, which basically gives you 50% more time for free.
There are no long-term commitments; if you enjoy the service, you can purchase another block of 10 hours as required. The $7 per hour rate is among the most affordable I’ve found.
Tasks Assistant was created in 2014 and is capable of handling a wide range of remote work.
In Conclusion
These virtual assistant services provide some of the best value for your buck when it comes to outsourcing. My advice is to look over the profiles of the businesses that seem to be the right fit.
You can then build a free account to try out the service or sign up for a small monthly contract. The beauty is that they are all so low-cost–a it’s really low-risk way to get started with outsourcing.
