In-house or not · Updated November 2026
Outsourcing vs hiring in-house: what each costs
For a full-time virtual assistant, an in-house hire in the US costs $4,035–$6,028 a month with benefits and payroll taxes, while someone you hire directly in the Philippines costs $554–$1,384 in pay. Outsourcing is cheaper on the monthly bill for all 8 roles we track, but it costs you recruiting and management time, and it doesn't buy everything an employee does.
160 hours a month, role by role
In-house figures add each country's employer costs to wages. The direct-hire figure is pay only. We use the Philippines for that column because it has the most published data, and other markets differ.
| Role | In-house, US | In-house, UK | In-house, Australia | Hired directly, Philippines | Against the US |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virtual assistant | $4,035–$6,028 | $3,751–$4,674 | $2,806–$6,057 | $554–$1,384 | About 81% less |
| Customer support agent | $3,830–$5,380 | $3,617–$3,636 | $3,052–$4,514 | $424–$3,230 | About 60% less |
| Bookkeeper | $4,522–$6,387 | $4,113 | $3,166–$5,272 | $992–$1,293 | About 79% less |
| Digital marketer | $6,063–$11,254 | $4,425 | $3,496–$6,421 | $370–$3,693 | About 77% less |
| Social media manager | $5,847–$10,429 | $2,612–$5,847 | $2,745–$4,788 | $461–$1,570 | About 88% less |
| Graphic designer | $5,097–$8,503 | $4,516 | $3,242–$6,116 | $600–$1,570 | About 84% less |
| Web developer | $6,674–$13,118 | $6,490 | $3,623–$6,675 | $461–$1,384 | About 91% less |
| Software developer | $10,932–$17,870 | $7,611 | $3,942–$8,388 | $720–$2,307 | About 89% less |
The in-house number, line by line
Wages are only the first line. Here's a full-time virtual assistant on each country's numbers:
In-house in the US
160 hours a month, USD
Per month
- Wages1$2,987–$4,462
- Paid leave2$250–$373
- Supplemental pay (overtime, bonuses)2$133–$199
- Health and other insurance2$254–$379
- Retirement plans2$92.72–$139
- Payroll taxes and required insurance2$318–$476
Monthly total$4,035–$6,028
One-time
- Average cost per hire3$5,475
First year$53,899–$77,813
- Benefit costs are the average for private employers with 1–49 workers; your own package may differ.
- United States pay: O*NET OnLine (U.S. Department of Labor), national wages for SOC 43-6014, BLS OEWS May 2025 (May 2025 (BLS 2025 wage data)); U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025, news release Table 1 (May 2025). Checked Oct 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026, Table 6. Checked Oct 2026.
- SHRM, 'SHRM Releases 2025 Benchmarking Reports' press release (Oct 15, 2025). Checked Oct 2026.
- United Kingdom pay: Office for National Statistics, Employee earnings in the UK: 2026 (ASHE), Figure 5 (April 2026, provisional (released 22 Oct 2026)). Checked Oct 2026. Converted at 1 USD = 0.748 GBP (Bank of England, daily spot exchange rates against US Dollars (Sterling per US$1), rate for 22 Oct 2026).
- GOV.UK (HMRC), Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027. Checked Oct 2026.
- The Pensions Regulator, minimum contributions under automatic enrolment. Checked Oct 2026.
- Australia pay: Jobs and Skills Australia, occupation profile 'Personal Assistants' (ANZSCO 5211) (May 2025); PayScale Australia, 'Administrative Assistant' hourly pay page (updated Oct 4, 2026). Checked Oct 2026. Converted at 1 USD = 1.426 AUD (Bank of England, daily spot exchange rates against US Dollars (Australian Dollar per US$1), rate for 22 Oct 2026).
- business.gov.au, Superannuation. Checked Oct 2026.
The cost nobody puts on the slip: unused hours
An in-house job is usually full-time, whether or not the work is. If you've really got 80 hours of work a month, the fair comparison isn't 160 hours against 160 hours:
- In-house in the US, 160 hours$4,035–$6,028You pay for all of them, used or not.
- Hired directly in the Philippines, 80 hours$400–$800Pay at hourly rates, for the hours you actually need.
Part-time employees exist, of course, and in that case compare the hours you'd really hire: the calculator prices any number of them. Part-time vs full-time goes deeper.
One-time costs and how long hiring takes
In the US, the average cost per hire for non-executive positions is $5,475 and the median is $1,300 (SHRM, 'SHRM Releases 2025 Benchmarking Reports' press release (Oct 15, 2025), checked Oct 2026). The two are far apart because a few expensive hires pull the average up, so a small business will often sit closer to the median. The median time to fill such a job is 39 calendar days (SHRM, '2026 Recruiting Executives Benchmarking' page, checked Oct 2026).
We have no sourced figure for the same costs on the outsourcing side, so the calculator gives you fields instead. When you hire abroad yourself, the cost is mostly your own hours: the ad, the screening, a paid test and references. With an agency, it depends on the terms, and the example below lists no setup fee.
Where an agency fits
An agency is outsourcing with the recruiting and admin bought in. On the same 160 hours, the example comes to $1,040–$1,600 a month for a virtual assistant.
Published by Outsourcing Insider, a VA MASTERS company. The example below is VA MASTERS' own published rate card, shown because it's public; other agencies' prices vary. About us
| Agency example | Per hour | 160 hours a month | Covers these roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| VA MASTERS Parent company | $6.50–$10.00 | $1,040–$1,600 | Virtual assistant, Customer support agent |
| VA MASTERS Parent company | $7.50–$14.00 | $1,200–$2,240 | Bookkeeper |
| VA MASTERS Parent company | $8.50–$15.00 | $1,360–$2,400 | Digital marketer |
| VA MASTERS Parent company | $7.50–$9.00 | $1,200–$1,440 | Social media manager |
| VA MASTERS Parent company | $8.00–$14.00 | $1,280–$2,240 | Graphic designer |
| VA MASTERS Parent company | $12.00–$25.00 | $1,920–$4,000 | Web developer, Software developer |
When in-house is worth the higher bill
- The work happens in a place. Reception, stock, site visits and anything physical.
- The job is mostly conversations you can't schedule. If most of the value comes from being in the room when decisions get made, distance costs you.
- It's the core of what you sell. If the skill is why customers pick you, many owners want it inside the company for the long term.
- Your time zone leaves no overlap, and the work can't wait. You can often hire around this, but not always.
- A contract or regulator limits where the work or data can go. Check with your adviser before you price anything.
When outsourcing is the better buy
- The work is on a screen and you can write it down. Admin, support, bookkeeping admin, design, marketing and development all fit. Our task checklist shows how much of your week does.
- You need fewer than full-time hours. You buy what you use, and adjust as the work grows.
- The local market is too expensive for the job's value. The table above shows how far apart the numbers can be.
- You want to test a role before committing. A part-time remote hire shows you what the job really is.
Outsourcing has a price too. Expect more written process, more care over who can reach which accounts, and a slower start while someone learns your business from far away. Onboarding matters more than it does for someone sitting next to you.
What this comparison leaves out
- Equipment, software licences and office space, on any route.
- Your management time after the hire, on any route.
- Local employer costs abroad, which depend on how you engage the person.
- Quality and staff turnover. We don't have sourced numbers for either, so we won't guess.
FAQ
Is it cheaper to outsource or hire in-house?
On monthly cost, outsourcing comes out lower for all 8 roles we track when you compare a US in-house hire with someone hired directly in the Philippines: about 60% to 91% less, middle of one range against the middle of the other. That compares pay abroad with wages plus employer costs at home, and it leaves out your own recruiting and management time. It also doesn't price what an in-house hire can do that a remote one can't.
What's the real cost of hiring an employee in-house?
Wages plus what you pay on top. For a full-time virtual assistant in the US, that's $2,987–$4,462 a month in wages and $4,035–$6,028 with benefits and payroll taxes, at the average for private employers with 1–49 workers. Add one-time hiring costs, plus equipment and space, which we don't include.
What does outsourcing mean here?
Here it means getting a role done by someone outside your own payroll and country, in one of two ways: hiring a remote person yourself, or using an agency that finds and manages the arrangement. Handing a whole function to a vendor at a fixed price is a different purchase, and our pay data doesn't cover those quotes.
When should I hire in-house instead of outsourcing?
When the work has to happen on site, when the person needs to be in the room for most decisions, when the role is core to what you sell, or when a contract or regulator limits where the work can be done (ask your adviser). If the job is recurring, written down and done on a screen, outsourcing is worth pricing.
Do these numbers include taxes for the person abroad?
No. The direct-hire numbers are pay plus any fees you type into the calculator. Costs that depend on how you engage someone abroad aren't included, so check those with an accountant or employer-of-record service in that country.