Quick note before you read: Ryz Labs is one of the seven companies below, and this is our site. Since that biases us, we sorted this list by what a small business owner can check on each company's own site, and we put ourselves where that sorting lands. Sources are at the bottom.
For a small business, the deciding question is usually how little you can start with and how easily you can stop. Most owners don't know yet whether they have 10 hours of work a month or 160, so a low entry point and monthly terms beat a polished program.
A 40-person company has an office manager who can absorb a bad hire. A five-person business doesn't. The owner is usually the one who'll train the assistant, so the first month eats the owner's time before it gives any back. That makes the trial period, the exit terms and the first task more important than the brand.
The work is also mixed. One week it's customer email and invoice prep; the next it's updating the CRM or chasing a vendor. A small business rarely needs an executive assistant's polish. It needs someone reliable, on its hours, who can switch between five kinds of admin in one afternoon.
Time etc has the lowest published entry point here. Plans renew monthly, you can cancel by email or a call, there's no setup fee and your first task is free. Unused hours roll over on the 20, 40 and 60 hour plans. It's built for exactly the owner who doesn't yet know how much to hand off. The catch: at $36 to $39 an hour it's one of the higher hourly rates, so it gets less attractive past 60 hours.
Wing's $999 plan, about $6.25 an hour at 160 hours, is the most hours per dollar on any published plan here. It says there are no long-term contracts. You choose from set time-zone slots on the Philippines plan, so check the slot against your busiest hours before you sign.
BELAY's whole team is US-based and keeps Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 in its own time zone. Its comparison page describes month-to-month terms with 30-day notice, and its Right-Fit Guarantee rematches at no extra cost. If you also want bookkeeping, BELAY sells that too. You'll need a call to get a price.
Our virtual assistants work on your team handling the customer inbox, CRM records, order entry, bookings and the invoice prep your bookkeeper waits on. They keep US business hours and write fluent English, so a customer who emails at 2 PM hears back that afternoon. Every candidate goes through one of our recruiters first. You'll see a plan, a price and the people's names after a single call. Typical start: under two weeks from your go, with three to six weeks for some roles.
We land fourth for small businesses because there's no 10-hour plan; a dedicated VA is $2,000 a month, month to month. If you'd rather have a dedicated executive assistant, that's $3,000 a month, month to month. Choose us when a website rebuild, an app or an automation job is on the horizon, because we also place developers and project and product managers, and they join the same team as your VA. We're a Calabasas, California company, founded in 2021, now 200+ people, and Fortune 500 engineering teams rely on us. See dedicated developers or get your plan.
Magic quotes by the week and bills every four weeks, with "Cancel anytime" and "$0 until you hire" on its homepage. It says assistants work your time zone and that it serves 10,000+ businesses. Its site blocks automated reads, so we took these figures from Magic's own pages as shown in search listings; confirm on the site.
Hire Overseas lists $0 recruiting, setup or termination fees, month-to-month terms and a 14-day money-back guarantee. Its sample EA brief is $2,400 a month on Eastern hours. Coverage ranges from full Eastern overlap to overnight, depending on region.
Virtual Latinos prices by experience tier, charges no recruitment, access or setup fees, and aligns assistants to US time zones, with English, Spanish or Portuguese. Contract terms aren't stated on the pricing page, so ask.
If you've never delegated before: start with Time etc's 10 or 20 hours and find out what you actually hand off.
If you already know it's a full week of routine work: Wing for the lowest listed price, or Hire Overseas if you want an all-in figure with a money-back window.
If US-based matters most: BELAY.
If a website, app or automation project is next: us, so the person who clears your inbox and the person who builds your tools share one team. For executive-level support, see the best executive assistant services.
On published plans, from $390 a month for 10 hours (Time etc) to $999 a month for 160 hours (Wing's Philippines plan). Dedicated remote hires through Hire Overseas or Virtual Latinos run about $1,600 to $4,400 a month. See our executive assistant cost guide for in-house comparisons.
Hire a VA when the work is under a full week or still changing shape. Hire in-house when the role needs to be on site or carries authority over money and people.
BELAY and Time etc say their assistants are US-based. Wing offers a US option among others.
Time etc, Wing, Magic and Hire Overseas describe monthly or cancel-any-time terms, and BELAY describes 30-day notice. Virtual Latinos doesn't state terms on its pricing page.
Your inbox and calendar, because you'll see the result the same day. Then customer email, then CRM and invoice prep.
Yes, Athena markets to small businesses, but it sells one assistant at 40 hours a week from $3,000 a month with no part-time plan. See Athena alternatives.
We last checked these plans on November 14, 2026. Small-business plans get repriced often, so look again before you pay.
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