Virtual assistant services have advanced far beyond simple administrative task support. Today’s top VA providers combine skilled professionals, documented procedures, best practices, and tool expertise to help executives and teams save time, reduce obstacles, and expand their capacity to execute.
This guide breaks down the most common types of virtual assistant services, how they’re used in modern organizations, and how to choose the right model—especially if you’re delegating high-trust, recurring work.
What a Virtual Assistant Service Does
Virtual assistants (VAs) exist to step in to help executives, leaders, and teams improve productivity and offload time-consuming administrative burdens.
As technology tools become ubiquitous, leaders are expected to be self-reliant and reduce administrative expenses. However, this so-called independence often comes at the expense of their time.
Consider the numbers:
- Executives spend an average of 16 hours per week on administrative tasks.
- Professionals spend about 3 hours a day managing email.
- Business travelers spend an average of 12 hours planning each trip.
- Sales leaders spend just one-third of their time selling.
An increasing number of executives are opting for virtual assistants (VAs)—remote, often offshore workers offering accessible administrative support—to fill the gap between having an in-house assistant and handling tasks independently.
See how productivity has changed in the past four years: Download the 2025 Executive Productivity Report
Virtual Assistant Services
If you're a small business leader seeking a virtual assistant, you now have multiple options to hire one or more VAs for your business. Let's explore four different types of virtual assistant services and their benefits and limitations.
1. Freelance Virtual Assistant
There are thousands of freelance VAs working all over the world. Most of these assistants are full-time contract workers, working from home and on their own devices.
You can hire a freelance virtual assistant through job boards or community sites. These are traditional contractor relationships, most closely resembling the experience you get outsourcing to a designer, writer, or IT professional.
They aren't embedded in your business context, and you have to vet, interview, train, and manage the freelancer you choose. In some cases, this may include payroll, taxes, and other overhead costs.
The pros of this option are:
- If you hire locally, the VA can visit the office when needed and perform in-person tasks
- The cost of hiring a virtual assistant may be lower due to the lack of a service provider "middleman"
- You have the opportunity to build a long-term relationship.
The cons of hiring a freelance VA are similar to the risks of any freelance hire. The most concerning aspect is how long it might take to train and oversee another employee, especially when you're aiming to save time while ensuring the worker's quality and dependability. You are also responsible for backfilling if that VA leaves—which means hiring, interviewing, and training all over again.
Drawbacks include:
- The time to train and equip with your technology and processes
- More management overhead on your part
- Uncertain quality and reliability
- The freelancer could leave at any time
2. Contract Virtual Assistant Agency
Contract virtual assistant agencies have emerged to reduce the risks associated with hiring a freelance VA. These agencies pre-vet and recruit VAs, allowing you to choose someone with the appropriate experience for your requirements. As a result, the risks regarding quality and reliability are lower compared to hiring independently.
Still, once you select the VA, they usually work as 1099 contractors for the agency. You pay the assistant, and the agency takes a cut.
Benefits of a Contract VA agency include:
- Better vetting and more certainty of quality and reliability than directly hiring freelancers
- Faster hiring than recruiting yourself
- The VAs could be local in some markets if that is important
The drawbacks of a contract agency are similar to those of a freelance VA. The likelihood of receiving poor-quality work or experiencing reliability issues is usually lower. Some agencies don't guarantee you'll work with the same VA consistently—instead, rotating who handles what work based on the agency's current needs.
Building a relationship with someone who can get to know you and your business is typically more challenging with this type of virtual assistant service.
Cons for a contact agency are:
- Any training and management are up to you
- Could leave at any time
- May not have a dedicated VA
3. Managed Virtual Assistant Service
A managed virtual assistant service involves the provider hiring, training, and overseeing the VA as a full-time employee, so you don't have to handle onboarding or supervision. Usually, an account manager functions like an in-house manager, connecting you with the VA to maintain agreed-upon service quality and standards.
The account manager (in Prialto's case, called an Engagement Manager) documents all processes and trains a backup VA to take over if the primary VA is absent or moves on. They also help you continually optimize the service to maximize productivity—acting as your dedicated process experts.
The benefits of a managed VA service include:
- Faster hiring than recruiting yourself
- Assistants get access to training, best practices, and performance management
- Whole-team support that ensures continuity
- Guaranteed service levels
Learn more: How Woodruff Sawyer saves 1,000/month with a managed VA service
With a managed VA service, the service provider takes much of the risk of delivering a quality VA service. It depends a bit on how an engagement is structured—your risk grows with the length of a contract. If a particular VA doesn't work out, a backup is ready to take over.
The cons of a managed VA service include:
- It won't be the cheapest option
- These services typically are a poor fit for low-volume, task-based work (less than 5 hours a week)
If you only need occasional project-based support, you'll pay for the time you don't need. But it can be a great choice if you want to offload ongoing tasks to a VA with a team of trainers and managers behind them and an account manager who guides you on effectively utilizing your VA team.
At Prialto, we define virtual assistant services as an ongoing capacity service, not one-time help. The goal isn’t just task completion—it’s providing consistent leverage. It's when you need this leverage that a managed service is your best option.
Prialto offers a managed virtual assistant service. For more information about what it's like to work with Prialto, schedule a consultation call and we'll walk you through it.