A plain comparison of the three ways a US business gets work done by a person it does not put on its own payroll, with every cost in US dollars.
Australian business? Read offshoring vs outsourcing vs virtual assistants for Australian businesses.
A dedicated offshore team member is a full-time person who works only for you, employed overseas by a staffing provider's entity. A virtual assistant agency places a full-time or part-time assistant from its own bench and manages the employment behind the scenes. A freelancer is an independent worker you find on a marketplace and pay by the hour or the project. Owners use all three words as if they meant the same thing, and the differences decide what you pay, who carries the employment risk and what happens when the person leaves.
The table is the short version. The rest of this guide sets out each model, what it costs a US business in 2026 from each provider's own published figures, and which one fits which situation.
| Dedicated offshore staff | Virtual assistant agency | Freelance marketplace | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you buy | A named person who works only for you, full-time, on your hours | An assistant from the agency's bench, full-time or in blocks of hours | Hours or a project from an independent worker |
| Who you contract with | The staffing provider (for Offshored, Offshored Pty Ltd) | The agency | The freelancer, under the marketplace's terms |
| Who employs the person | The provider's overseas entity (for Offshored, Australian Pathways OPC in the Philippines) | The agency or an entity it uses; MyOutDesk's pricing page does not name one | Nobody. The freelancer is self-employed |
| Who manages them day to day | You, with recruitment, payroll, HR and replacement handled by the provider | You, with an agency account manager alongside | You |
| Monthly cost, full-time admin or support role (USD) | Offshored: US$1,350 to US$1,700, Eastern hours | MyOutDesk: from US$1,988 (Tier 1), from US$2,500 (Tier 2) | Upwork at its published US$13 median: US$2,253 for 40 hours a week, before the client fee |
| Fees on top | Offshored: none. No recruitment, setup or exit fee | MyOutDesk: none stated on its pricing page | Upwork: client fee of up to 7.99 percent, or 3 percent by US bank account. OnlineJobs.ph: US$69 or US$99 a month to contact workers |
| Notice period | Offshored: 30 days, no lock-in contract | Not stated on MyOutDesk's pricing page | None unless written into the contract |
| If the person leaves | Offshored recruits a replacement at its cost | MyOutDesk rematches at no extra cost | You start again |
| Data control | Work inside your systems; Offshored holds no client data; logins removed on the last day | The agency's controls: MyOutDesk states SOC 2 and HIPAA | Whatever you set up with the individual |
| Best for | Ongoing roles that need someone inside your business every day | A first assistant where you want a managed bench rather than your own recruit | Projects with an end date and workloads under 20 hours a week |
| Main risk | You have to manage a person, and a poor selection costs weeks | A higher monthly cost for the same hours, and less say over who is recruited | Availability, turnover and no one to call when the person stops replying |
Third party figures are each provider's own published figures, read October 27, 2026 and linked under sources. The dedicated staff column is Offshored's published US pricing; the full table is on the US pricing page.
Dedicated offshore staffing is having your own full-time team member in another country, working in your systems on your business hours, with a staffing provider carrying the employment, payroll and compliance.
The person is yours in every practical sense. You interview and choose them, you set their tasks, they log in to your QuickBooks or your property management software, they join your Monday meeting and they report to you. What sits offshore is the employment contract, the payroll and the statutory contributions, which the provider runs on your behalf. Offshored uses the dedicated offshore staffing model: the client chooses the person, that person works only for the client's business in the client's systems and hours, and Offshored handles recruitment, onboarding, payroll and day to day HR, with each team member employed in the Philippines by Australian Pathways OPC, a registered Philippine company. No US employment relationship arises on your side, so you run no US payroll, withhold no US employment taxes and provide no US benefits for the team member. The step by step version is on the US how it works page.
Other providers run the same model under different names. Connext calls its structure employer of record and prices each seat as the employee's compensation plus a flat management fee, with Connext as the legal employer in-country (Connext pricing page, read October 27, 2026). Outsourced describes dedicated full-time staff who report to you daily while it manages the operations, from offices in the Philippines (Outsourced homepage, read October 27, 2026). TOA Global places accountants and bookkeepers who work exclusively for one accounting firm as permanent employees working remotely (TOA Global FAQ, read October 27, 2026). The names differ; in each case one business gets one dedicated person for one monthly fee, and the provider's entity, not yours, is the employer.
A virtual assistant agency recruits assistants onto its own bench, usually in the Philippines or Latin America, and places one with you for a flat monthly rate that covers recruiting, payroll and HR.
MyOutDesk is the agency that appears in US search results for this kind of hire. Its pricing page lists Tier 1 Managed Outsourcing starting at US$1,988 a month and Tier 2 Specialized Outsourcing starting at US$2,500 a month, with enterprise custom recruitment on quote. Every placement is full-time, eight hours a day, five days a week; the page says MyOutDesk does not build part-time placements. The rate includes recruiting, payroll, benefits, HR administration, onboarding support, time tracking and a dedicated account manager, with a rematch at no additional cost if the fit is wrong. MyOutDesk states SOC 2 and HIPAA compliance, offices in California, Manila, Lima and Casablanca, and a time to hire of one week at the shortest (MyOutDesk pricing page, read October 27, 2026). The page does not state a notice period, a contract term or which entity employs the assistant, so ask for all three in writing before you sign.
The agency model and the dedicated offshore model overlap: both give you a full-time person and both handle the employment behind the scenes. The differences are the price for the same 40 hours, how much say you have in who is recruited, and whether the provider publishes its terms. On the published figures, a full-time administrative assistant costs US$1,350 to US$1,700 a month through Offshored on Eastern hours and starts at US$1,988 a month through MyOutDesk.
A freelance marketplace connects you with independent workers who bid for your job or list an hourly rate. You pay the freelancer, the marketplace takes a fee from one or both sides, and nobody employs the person.
Upwork is the marketplace that ranks first in the United States for hiring a virtual assistant in the Philippines. Its hiring page for the Philippines puts the median virtual assistant rate on Upwork at US$13 an hour, with Philippines based freelancers at the lower end of the range (Upwork, hire virtual assistants in the Philippines, read October 27, 2026). Upwork charges clients on its free Basic plan a Client Marketplace Fee of up to 7.99 percent on every payment to a freelancer, reduced to 3 percent for US clients who pay from a bank account (Upwork Help, Client Marketplace Fee, read October 27, 2026). The freelancer pays a separate service fee of 0 to 15 percent per contract, fixed once the contract starts, which freelancers price into their rate (Upwork Help, Freelancer Service Fee, read October 27, 2026).
OnlineJobs.ph is a job board rather than a payment platform. You pay a subscription to contact workers, US$69 a month on Pro or US$99 a month on Premium, then hire and pay the worker directly with no salary markup and no ongoing fee once you cancel the subscription (OnlineJobs.ph pricing, read October 27, 2026). The pay rate is whatever you negotiate with the worker, and OnlineJobs.ph does not employ them: the arrangement is a direct contract between your business and a person in the Philippines, with no provider standing between you.
The same job title exists on the dedicated model: a full-time offshore virtual assistant who works only for you, on your US hours, from US$1,350 a month through Offshored. Which one you need depends on the volume and the rhythm of the work, covered below.
The table compares the monthly cost of a full-time person, 40 hours a week, from each provider's own published figures. Where a provider publishes no figure, the table says so rather than estimating one.
| Provider and model | Published monthly cost, full-time (USD) | What is in the figure | Source, read October 27, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Offshored, dedicated offshore staff | T1 administration and support US$1,350 to US$1,700; T2 bookkeeping, AP and AR, executive assistants US$1,500 to US$2,000; T3 accountants, drafters, estimators, designers, digital marketing US$1,700 to US$2,400; T4 financial controllers and developers US$2,150 to US$3,400; AI Operators US$1,750 to US$3,900. Eastern, Central and Mountain hours. Pacific hours are 10 percent higher before rounding: US$1,500 to US$1,900 for T1 | Salary, Philippine night shift differential, statutory contributions, 13th month pay, paid leave, HMO after probation, recruitment, payroll, HR and replacement. No recruitment, setup or exit fee. No GST or VAT | offshored.net/us/pricing |
| Connext, dedicated offshore staff (employer of record) | Dedicated employees "start at about $1,800 a month in the Philippines". Sample quote: medical billing specialist with 3 to 4 years' experience US$1,872 to US$1,970 a month. Connext labels these simulations and quotes exact pricing per job description | Compensation, benefits, employer of record, recruiting, standard home setup equipment, management. Extra: pre-approved overtime, overnight or in-office differential, elevated security setup, annual raises | connextglobal.com/connext-pricing |
| Outsourced, dedicated offshore staff | Not published. Pricing is by quote through its team builder calculator. Its homepage claims a saving of up to 75 percent compared to hiring locally | Not published | outsourced.ph |
| TOA Global, dedicated accounting staff | Not published. Its FAQ claims savings of up to 66 percent on overhead costs and a time to fill of 15 days at the fastest | Not published | toaglobal.com/faq |
| MyOutDesk, virtual assistant agency | Tier 1 Managed Outsourcing from US$1,988; Tier 2 Specialized Outsourcing from US$2,500; enterprise on quote. Full-time only, eight hours a day, five days a week | Recruiting, payroll, benefits, HR administration, onboarding support, time tracking, account manager, rematch at no additional cost | myoutdesk.com/pricing |
| Upwork, freelance marketplace | US$13 an hour median for virtual assistants on Upwork. At 40 hours a week for 52 weeks (2,080 hours) that is US$27,040 a year, US$2,253 a month before the client fee; US$2,433 a month with the 7.99 percent Client Marketplace Fee, US$2,321 with the 3 percent US bank account rate (Offshored arithmetic, rounded to the dollar) | The freelancer's time only. No employment, benefits, replacement or management. The freelancer's own 0 to 15 percent service fee is inside the rate | upwork.com, hire virtual assistants in the Philippines; Upwork Help, Client Marketplace Fee; Upwork Help, Freelancer Service Fee |
| OnlineJobs.ph, job board | US$69 a month (Pro) or US$99 a month (Premium) to contact and hire workers, cancel when done recruiting. Worker pay is negotiated directly and not published | Access to profiles and applications, a time tracking tool and a payment tool. No employment, benefits, replacement or management | onlinejobs.ph/pricing |
Two things stand out. First, the dedicated and agency models cost the same order of money as a full-time freelancer at Upwork's median rate once the client fee is added, and the freelancer figure buys no employment, no benefits, no replacement and no provider. Second, the published dedicated staff fee is below the published agency fee for the same 40 hours: US$1,350 to US$1,700 at Offshored against a start of US$1,988 at MyOutDesk for an administrative role on Eastern hours.
For what the Offshored fee saves against a US hire, the US offshore staffing cost benchmark compares ten roles at the BLS median wage plus employer paid benefits: the median saving is 74.4 percent, the range is 71.0 to 80.8 percent, and the median gap is US$67,621 a year for each role.
On the dedicated model the provider's overseas entity is the employer. For Offshored that is Australian Pathways OPC, a registered Philippine company (Company Reg. 2023010082245-00), which carries the employment contract, the statutory contributions and the liability under Philippine labor law. Connext states that it is the employer of record in-country (Connext pricing page). You engage a staffing service, so no US employment relationship arises, and Offshored Pty Ltd provides a completed IRS Form W-8BEN-E on request so your accounts payable team can file it (is offshore staffing legal for US businesses).
On the agency model the agency or an entity it uses is the employer. MyOutDesk's pricing page says payroll, benefits and HR administration are built into the rate; it does not name the employing entity, so ask which company the assistant's contract is with (MyOutDesk pricing page).
On a marketplace nobody employs the person. An Upwork freelancer is self-employed and contracts with you under Upwork's terms. On OnlineJobs.ph you hire the worker directly, which means the arrangement between your business and a contractor in the Philippines is yours to document, pay and, if your tax adviser says so, report. This page is general information, not tax or legal advice; confirm your position with your CPA.
You do, on all three models. The difference is what sits around you.
With Offshored you set the tasks, priorities and standards, the same as for any member of your team. Offshored recruits to your brief, onboards the team member, runs payroll and HR, logs every shift on its timekeeping platform, asks you for formal feedback at the end of month one, month three and month six of probation, reviews performance annually, and recruits a replacement at its cost if the person resigns or is not the right fit. A named account manager checks in with you and with your team member (how it works; data security page).
With an agency you also direct the work, with an account manager from the agency alongside. MyOutDesk lists internal workforce monitoring and a dedicated account manager in its Tier 1 plan (MyOutDesk pricing page).
With a freelancer there is no one else. You brief, you check, you chase, and when the freelancer takes on another client your hours move down their list.
Offshored runs month to month with 30 days' notice and no lock-in contract. If notice falls part way through a month, the following invoice is prorated to the remaining notice period and nothing else is owed. Invoices are issued in US dollars on the 15th of each month and due on the 30th, paid by ACH or Fedwire to Offshored Pty Ltd's US dollar account. If a team member leaves or does not work out, Offshored recruits the replacement from its Manila candidate pool and presents candidates before the handover date, with no re-recruitment fee (US pricing page; US Terms of Service).
Connext states flexible contracts with no long-term lock-in and that it manages the replacement when an employee leaves; its pricing page does not state a notice period (Connext pricing page). MyOutDesk states a rematch at no additional cost; its pricing page does not state a notice period or a contract term (MyOutDesk pricing page). Ask each provider for the notice clause in writing before you sign, and for an example of a prorated final invoice.
A freelance contract ends when either side ends it. There is no notice period unless you write one into the contract, and no provider is obliged to find you the next person.
On the dedicated model with Offshored, work is done in your systems under logins you issue and control. Team members connect through a VPN or directly through your own platforms, and Offshored holds no client data on its own infrastructure. Every candidate has a pre-screening interview and an NBI clearance, the Philippine national police check, before being presented. The employment contract with Australian Pathways OPC includes a confidentiality clause that continues after employment ends and an intellectual property assignment clause, so work product belongs to you. USB ports and personal cloud drives are blocked on company supplied devices, and you can require a company supplied device for your team member. All client system logins are removed on the team member's last day. Offshored will sign a HIPAA business associate agreement with a US healthcare client. Offshored is not ISO 27001 certified today and does not claim a certification it does not hold (data security page; US Terms of Service).
On the agency model the agency's controls apply. MyOutDesk states SOC 2 and HIPAA compliance, compliance monitoring software, security training and secure workstations, with in-office environments available (MyOutDesk pricing page). Connext states SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA and GDPR, and that it signs business associate agreements for HIPAA covered engagements (Connext pricing page).
On a marketplace the controls are whatever you set up with the individual: their own device, their own home network and whatever confidentiality terms you write into the contract. Upwork and OnlineJobs.ph are platforms, not employers, and neither runs a police check, a device policy or an exit process for you.
Whichever model you pick, four steps are yours: least privilege access, multi-factor authentication on every login, an overseas disclosure line in your privacy policy that names the Philippines, and an offboarding checklist that confirms every login is closed on the last day.
Tax preparation and workpaper support need someone inside your practice management software every day from January to April and every month after. That is dedicated staff: an offshore accountant through Offshored costs US$1,700 to US$2,400 a month on Eastern hours and works only for your firm. A freelancer is the wrong tool for client data you are accountable for.
Tenant calls, work orders and owner statements arrive all day on your hours. A dedicated customer service or administrative team member rostered to your day answers the same way every time. A part-time freelancer fitting you in between other clients does not.
A freelancer on Upwork or a worker from OnlineJobs.ph works. If the role grows to someone who knows your calendar, your clients and your priorities well enough to make decisions, move to a dedicated executive assistant on your hours, US$1,500 to US$2,000 a month through Offshored.
A six week peak is a project. Add freelance support for the peak, or an agency assistant if you want someone managed. Support that runs all year at 30 or more hours a week is dedicated staff.
Work with a start and a finish goes to a freelancer or a specialist firm. Do not hire dedicated staff for work that ends.
An agency places a person from its bench; a dedicated provider recruits to your brief and you choose from a shortlist. If you want the lower monthly cost and the say over who is hired, dedicated staff; if you want the agency to decide, an agency.
A practical test: if the person left tomorrow, would you need to retrain someone for more than a week? If yes, you need dedicated staff, not a freelancer. Every role Offshored staffs, with its monthly cost band, is on the US pricing page.
Not on the published figures. MyOutDesk's pricing page starts at US$1,988 a month for a full-time Tier 1 assistant (MyOutDesk pricing, read October 27, 2026). Offshored's US pricing page lists US$1,350 to US$1,700 a month for an administration and support team member on Eastern hours, and US$1,500 to US$1,900 on Pacific hours. Both figures are all-inclusive monthly rates for a full-time person.
For a few hours a week, yes. For a full week, no. Upwork's own hiring page puts the median virtual assistant rate on Upwork at US$13 an hour (Upwork, read October 27, 2026), which is US$2,253 a month for 40 hours a week over a year before Upwork's Client Marketplace Fee of up to 7.99 percent, and US$2,433 with it (Upwork Help). That buys the freelancer's time only. Offshored's fee of US$1,350 to US$1,700 a month for the same hours includes employment, benefits, replacement and management.
With Offshored, Australian Pathways OPC, a registered Philippine company, employs the team member under Philippine labor law. You contract with Offshored Pty Ltd, an Australian company, for a staffing service, so no US employment relationship arises and you do not run US payroll, withhold US employment taxes or provide US benefits for the team member (is offshore staffing legal for US businesses).
Yes. Many businesses start with a freelancer and move once the hours pass 25 to 30 a week or once the work needs someone available during US business hours. Offshored recruits to your brief, you interview and choose the person, and the typical time from brief to start date is one to two weeks. There is no recruitment fee and no lock-in contract (US pricing page).
With Offshored, 30 days. The following invoice is prorated to the remaining notice period and there is no exit fee (US pricing page). Connext and MyOutDesk do not state a notice period on their pricing pages (Connext pricing; MyOutDesk pricing, both read October 27, 2026), so ask for the clause in writing before you sign.
Yes. Offshored team members work your business hours. US daytime is a night shift in Manila, and the 10 percent Philippine night shift differential is inside the monthly fee, never billed separately. Eastern, Central and Mountain schedules are priced at the Eastern fee; Pacific hours are 10 percent higher before rounding because they run from 1:00 am to 9:00 am in Manila in US winter (US pricing page).
More answers, including data protection, the minimum commitment and holidays, are on the US FAQ page.
Third party figures were read October 27, 2026 from each provider's own site and are quoted as published; they are those providers' figures and claims, not Offshored prices. Offshored figures are Offshored's published US bands.
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