Virtual Assistant Pricing Packages: Hourly, Retainer, or Both?
If you’ve been doing VA work for a while, you’ve probably wondered what the best model of virtual assistant pricing packages is. Whether you should be offering retainer packages instead of billing hourly.
The short answer is: maybe. But the longer answer is more useful.
Retainers sound appealing — predictable income, committed clients, no invoice anxiety at the end of every month. And for some client relationships, they work really well. But this work is also genuinely variable. Some weeks are heavy. Others are light. And a retainer that doesn’t account for that tends to create friction on both sides — you feeling underpaid some months, your client feeling overbilled on others.
So instead of telling you retainers are the answer, here’s an honest look at virtual assistant pricing packages — what works, what doesn’t, and how to think about structuring your pricing in a way that actually holds up.
Before getting into pricing structure — if you’re not sure what you should be charging right now, the free VA Rate Calculator is worth doing first.
→ Get your free rate calculation
Hourly virtual assistant pricing packages
Hourly billing gets a bad reputation in the online business world, but it’s genuinely the most practical model for a lot of VA work — especially early in a client relationship when neither of you knows what a typical week looks like yet.
Hourly works well when the scope varies significantly week to week. When a client is still figuring out how to delegate. When you’re taking on a new type of work you haven’t done before. When the relationship is new and trust is still being built.
It’s clean. It’s transparent. And it protects both of you from committing to a number before you have enough information to make that commitment confidently.
The downside of staying hourly long-term is that your income becomes hard to predict and you’re stuck trading hours for time, especially as you get faster at your work.
Retainer-based pricing packages
A retainer makes sense when the work has become consistent enough that both you and your client have a realistic picture of what a typical month looks like.
Not a guess. An actual pattern — three months of invoices that are close enough to each other that a flat monthly rate wouldn’t feel like a gamble for either side.
When that consistency exists, retainers are genuinely good for both parties. Your client gets predictability and priority access to your time. You get stable income and a client who’s committed. The key is setting the retainer based on real data, not optimism.
The hybrid approach — often the most practical
This is the model that tends to work best in practice, especially with new clients.
Start hourly. Let the first month or two show you what the work actually looks like. Track your hours carefully. Then — once you have a clear pattern — have a conversation about moving to a monthly retainer based on what you’ve seen.
That conversation is much easier when you’re coming to it with data. “Over the last three months, we’ve averaged X hours at Y rate — here’s what a monthly retainer could look like” is a very different conversation than “I’d like to offer you a package.”
The hybrid approach also protects the relationship. You’re not locking anyone into a number before either of you knows if it’s right. And when you do move to a retainer, it’s based on reality — which means it’s more likely to hold.
What actually determines how much you earn
Here’s the thing about virtual assistant pricing packages — the structure matters less than the rate underneath it.
A retainer at roughly $20/hr is still $20/hr. An hourly arrangement at $50/hr earns more regardless of how it’s packaged. The pricing model is just the container. What goes inside it — the rate, the scope, the value you’re delivering — is what actually changes your income.
Which means the most important pricing question isn’t retainer or hourly. It’s whether your rate reflects the level you’re actually working at. Most VAs who feel like their pricing isn’t working aren’t in the wrong model. They’re at the wrong rate.
Raising your rates with confidence
Whether you’re moving from hourly to retainer, renegotiating with an existing client, or pricing for someone new — the rate conversation gets easier when your value is crystal clear.
Not just what you do, but what changes for your client when you’re involved. The inbox that runs without them. The week that doesn’t derail. The problems caught before they become expensive. That’s what premium clients are paying for — and it’s what justifies a rate that reflects partner-level work rather than task-level work.
Getting clear on that — and learning how to communicate it — is usually what moves the needle more than any particular pricing structure.
Our free VA Rate Calculator is a good place to start to see how your current way of working translates into your hourly rate and what you can do to start charging more.