A mid-level US executive assistant runs about $91,000 fully loaded. The same EA placed through VirtuHire in South Africa runs about $21,600 a year, roughly 76% less. Use the calculator below to model your role. Pricing reflects VirtuHire August 2025 placement data, plus market averages for Philippines and LatAm placement firms. Book a 15-minute call for a real quote.
The calculator
Get the detailed 3-year savings breakdown.
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- Year 1, 2, and 3 projections with compounding savings
- Hidden-cost line-by-line: US in-house vs VirtuHire flat all-in
- Recommended VirtuHire tier and monthly range for your role
- Two recent placements relevant to what you're hiring
How we calculated this
The numbers in the calculator come from three places: VirtuHire's own placement deck (August 2025) for South Africa, public pricing pages and firm averages for Philippines and LatAm placement providers, and US Bureau of Labor Statistics wage ranges for the in-house baseline.
- US in-house: annual base salary plus a 30% loaded burden covering employer payroll taxes (FICA, Medicare, FUTA/SUTA), health benefits, paid time off, and equipment. 30% is the conservative midpoint of the 25 to 35% range most CFOs use for fully loaded cost.
- Philippines: hourly rate from the calculator's lookup, multiplied by hours per week, multiplied by 4.33 weeks per month, multiplied by 12. Reflects placement-firm averages, not direct-hire freelancer rates.
- South Africa (VirtuHire): real monthly retainer ranges from VirtuHire's August 2025 placement data, prorated by hours per week (40 hrs = full retainer). 272 clients, 750+ placements, 93% retention.
- LatAm: hourly placement-firm averages from public pricing across major LatAm staffing providers. Same hours formula as Philippines.
A few caveats. Placement-firm pricing varies by provider, role specialization, and how much vetting is built in. Hourly rates can climb 30 to 60% for specialist work or premium providers. SA monthly retainers are the actual VirtuHire range, not a market average. And the US baseline is the number you put in. If your local market pays differently, override it.
Full role pricing reference
| Role | Junior US | Mid US | Senior US | PH $/hr | SA monthly (J / M / S) | LatAm $/hr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General VA | $38k | $48k | $58k | $7 | $1,200 / $1,400 / $1,700 | $8 |
| Executive Assistant | $55k | $70k | $90k | $10 | $1,500 / $1,800 / $2,200 | $14 |
| Sales / SDR | $65k | $85k | $110k | $11 | $1,800 / $2,200 / $2,500 | $18 |
| Customer Support | $42k | $52k | $65k | $8 | $1,400 / $1,700 / $2,000 | $12 |
| Bookkeeper | $50k | $65k | $80k | $9 | $1,500 / $1,800 / $2,300 | $15 |
| Operations Coordinator | $55k | $70k | $88k | $9 | $1,500 / $1,900 / $2,300 | $14 |
| Designer | $60k | $80k | $100k | $12 | $1,500 / $2,200 / $2,800 | $20 |
| Engineer | $90k | $120k | $150k | $18 | $2,200 / $2,800 / $3,500 | $28 |
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Book a 15-min call ›Frequently asked questions
How does the VA cost calculator work?
You pick a role, set the experience tier and hours per week, and the tool shows the fully loaded annual cost of a US in-house hire next to Philippines, South Africa (VirtuHire), and LatAm placement options. The US figure is your baseline salary plus a 30 percent burden for payroll taxes, benefits, paid leave, and equipment. The South Africa column uses real VirtuHire August 2025 retainer ranges. Adjust any input and every column updates.
What does the monthly VirtuHire price include?
The flat monthly retainer covers a full Employer of Record: contracts, payroll run in South Africa, onboarding, equipment, and compliance. There are no recruitment fees and no separate placement fee. You get a dedicated full-time placement, a 30-day replacement guarantee at no extra cost, and a single USD invoice each month. The number you see is the all-in cost, not a starting rate.
What is not included in the calculator estimate?
The estimate covers the placement retainer and the EOR services bundled into it. It does not include any software seats or tool licenses specific to your business that you would buy for any hire (your CRM, your help desk, your design suite). It also does not model one-off project work or overtime. For a precise figure tied to your exact role spec, book a call for a real quote.
Which roles does the calculator cover?
Eight role buckets: General VA, Executive Assistant, Sales / SDR, Customer Support, Bookkeeper, Operations Coordinator, Designer, and Engineer. Each has junior, mid, and senior tiers. Across all roles, South African placements run roughly $1,200 to $3,500 per month full-time. If your seat does not map cleanly to one of these, pick the closest and tell us the detail on a call so we size it correctly.
How do South African rates compare to US in-house costs?
South African placements run up to 85 percent below US salary rates. A US in-house executive assistant often lands around $91,000 fully loaded once you add the 30 percent burden, while the same seat placed through VirtuHire is roughly $21,600 a year. The exact spread depends on the role and the US baseline you enter. The calculator shows the dollar gap for your specific inputs.
Is there a replacement guarantee?
Yes. Every VirtuHire placement comes with a 30-day replacement guarantee at no extra cost. If the placement is not the right fit in the first 30 days, we replace them without an additional fee. Because we run the full Employer of Record, payroll, contracts, and compliance sit with us, so a replacement does not create severance or offboarding work on your side.
Do South African staff overlap with US working hours?
Yes. South Africa is 6 to 7 hours ahead of US Eastern. Staff on a roughly 1pm to 9pm local shift overlap your US morning and early afternoon, which covers daily standup, live calls, and same-day handoffs. That overlap is one of the main reasons US teams pick South Africa over geographies that can only work an overnight shift relative to US business hours.
How do I go from an estimate to a real shortlist?
Book a free 15-minute intro call. You share what the seat needs, we put a simple agreement in place, and we send a pre-vetted shortlist of 3 candidates with video intros in 5 business days. You interview and choose. A one-month deposit confirms the hire, and the monthly retainer starts when they begin work, not before.
Is the calculator estimate binding?
No. The calculator is a planning tool built on VirtuHire August 2025 placement data plus market averages for the other geographies. It gives you a realistic range, not a contract price. Your actual rate depends on the specific role, the skill density you need, and the hours. We confirm a real placement range on the intro call once we understand the seat.
Is there a deposit or retainer?
A one-month deposit confirms the hire after you choose a candidate from the shortlist. The monthly retainer then starts when the placement begins work. There is no recruitment fee on top, and the retainer is a flat monthly amount billed in USD that includes the full Employer of Record. You do not pay anything to receive and review the shortlist.
Related reading
- Full 2026 VA cost guide: named competitor pricing across every market.
- Virtual assistant salary benchmarks 2026: US fully-loaded salaries vs South Africa retainers, role by role, with savings percentages.
- Best country to hire virtual assistants from in 2026: the SA vs PH vs LatAm vs India breakdown.
- Hire an offshore SDR: outbound sales pricing, ramp, and pod structure for the Sales / SDR row above.
- Property management virtual assistants: scope and pricing for tenant comms and maintenance coordination.
- South African virtual assistants: full service page with recent placement examples.
- How to hire a virtual assistant in 2026: 7-step process with role spec and onboarding.