Virtual assistant cost in Singapore: 2026 rates by role

In 2026 a full-time Filipino virtual assistant earns SGD 600 to 1,200 a month, and the role sets where in that range they land. A Singapore admin hire on a SGD 3,000 salary costs the business about SGD 4,720 a month once CPF, leave, a desk and a laptop are counted. Those are the two numbers most owners are really comparing.

Below is how each side adds up, what Filipino assistants earn by role, what pushes a rate up, the costs that never show on an invoice, and the jobs where a local hire is still the right call.

What a local admin hire costs in Singapore

Take a junior admin or marketing coordinator on SGD 3,000 a month. That is the base. This is what sits on top of it:

• Employer CPF at 17 percent, the rate for employees aged 55 and below: SGD 510.
• Paid leave and public holidays: about SGD 350 a month, if the hire takes 14 days of annual leave, Singapore's 11 public holidays and a week of sick leave.
• Medical benefits and insurance: SGD 150.
• A hot desk in a co-working space: SGD 500. An office desk runs SGD 300 to 600, with CBD buildings at the top of that range and suburban business parks at the bottom.
• A laptop and peripherals spread over three years: SGD 50 to 80 a month.
• A recruitment agency fee, if you used one: SGD 1,500 to 3,000 once, or SGD 125 to 250 a month spread over a year.

That takes a SGD 3,000 salary to about SGD 4,720 a month. A marketing coordinator with two or three years of experience is more realistic at SGD 4,000, and the same sum lands at about SGD 6,000 to 6,100.

The legal minimums sit below the 14 days used above. Under the Employment Act, annual leave starts at 7 days in the first year and rises by a day a year to 14 from the eighth year, and outpatient sick leave reaches 14 days after six months of service. A new hire costs a little less than this in year one and the full amount later.

What Filipino virtual assistants earn in 2026

Filipino assistants who work for Singapore businesses typically earn SGD 600 to 1,200 a month for full-time work. You pay no CPF and buy no desk or equipment, because they work from their own setup in the Philippines.

The exchange rate does a lot of the work. At June 2026 rates of about PHP 42 to the Singapore dollar, SGD 800 is roughly PHP 34,000. That is a competitive professional salary in Metro Manila and above average outside it, which is why experienced candidates accept pay that would be an entry-level wage in Singapore.

Monthly pay for a full-time Filipino assistant, by role (2026)

Role	Monthly pay (SGD)	Typical work
General admin	600 to 700	Inbox, scheduling, data entry, travel bookings, basic research
Customer service	650 to 800	Live chat, ticketing, email support
Executive assistant	700 to 900	Inbox, calendar, expense reports, travel
Social media assistant	750 to 950	Scheduling, replying to comments, reports in Meta Business Suite or Buffer, light Canva work
Bookkeeping	800 to 1,000	Xero reconciliation, invoicing, payroll prep
Marketing coordinator	900 to 1,100	Paid campaigns on Meta or Google Ads, copy, email in HubSpot, Mailchimp or Klaviyo
Senior executive assistant or specialist	1,100 to 1,200	Owns a channel, a set of books or candidate sourcing from start to finish

General admin candidates at the bottom of the table usually have two to four years in office support. From the marketing coordinator level up, you are meeting people who have worked with agency clients.

Hourly rates

For part-time or project work, assistants usually quote by the hour, in pesos:

• General admin (calendar, inbox, data entry, research): PHP 180 to 350 an hour.
• Customer service: PHP 200 to 400, more for phone support or refunds.
• Bookkeeping: PHP 250 to 500. Xero or QuickBooks certification sits at the top of that range.
• Meta or Google Ads specialist: PHP 400 to 900. The spread comes from the budgets they have run, not the years they have worked.
• Automation specialist (Zapier, Make, n8n): PHP 500 to 1,000. Few candidates, steady demand.

A full-time month is about 160 hours, so a mid-range hourly admin comes to about PHP 42,000, roughly SGD 1,000. A senior ads specialist can reach PHP 130,000, around SGD 3,100.

Pay monthly for a role you want to keep. Hourly suits project work and trial periods, but moving a good performer to a monthly salary after 90 days cuts turnover. People stay where the income is predictable.

What moves the rate

Years of experience matter less than what the person was trusted with. An ads specialist who managed PHP 50,000 budgets for three years costs less than one who ran PHP 5 million budgets for one year, and the second is usually the better hire.

Fluent English adds 15 to 30 percent for any client-facing role. Tool certificates add less than agencies claim. A Google Ads certificate is a weekend of multiple-choice questions; a screenshot of real campaign results tells you more.

Below-market offers attract the candidates nobody else hired, so pay the middle of the range and choose on evidence.

Costs that never show on the invoice

• Your own recruiting hours: expect 20 to 30 of them to screen 80 applications, interview 10 people and test 3.
• A bad hire, which costs two to three months of salary once you count the re-hire.
• 13th month pay, which Philippine law requires for employees by 24 December. A freelancer is not legally owed it, but candidates expect it, and offering it puts you ahead of most foreign employers.
• An equipment stipend of SGD 50 to 80 a month, if you want to cover a monitor or headset.
• Payroll and transfer fees, if a payroll service pays the assistant for you.

Hiring direct or through a managed plan

The pay figures above are what the assistant earns when you hire them yourself. Hire through an agency and the price also covers the employer's side: Philippine statutory contributions, 13th month pay, equipment checks, recruitment and a replacement if the person leaves. Agencies charge SGD 1,200 to 2,800 a month all-in, with admin roles at the low end and specialists at the top. A full-time Catalyst assistant starts from about SGD 1,900 a month, and current plan prices are on our pricing page.

Our guide to how Singapore businesses hire an overseas virtual assistant compares the three routes (direct, agency and employer of record) on cost, time to start and the Philippine labour rules that catch direct hires. For rates in the US, UK and Australia, see how much a virtual assistant costs.

What an assistant handles, and where they hit limits

Filipino assistants handle most back-office and digital work reliably:

• Email management and calendar scheduling
• CRM data entry and pipeline upkeep
• Social media scheduling in Buffer, Later or Hootsuite
• Graphic resizing and template work in Canva
• Customer support in Intercom or Freshdesk
• Bookkeeping in Xero or QuickBooks
• Paid ads in Meta Business Manager and Google Ads

The limits are physical presence and on-the-spot local judgement. An assistant cannot sign for deliveries, run the office supply room or walk a client through a contract in person. Most work Philippine Standard Time, GMT+8, the same clock as Singapore, so daily stand-ups and real-time chat are easy. Our list of tasks to delegate to a virtual assistant goes further.

When a local hire makes more sense

Four situations push the sum toward a Singapore employee:

• The role needs someone on site at least two or three days a week.
• The work involves regulated documents that your licence or compliance rules keep on site.
• You need someone at in-person client meetings or at government agencies.
• The job is so reactive and unstructured that it cannot be written down as repeatable tasks.

Outside those four, the monthly difference pays for other things: ad spend, a second assistant, better software or a healthier margin. Our virtual assistant vs in-house comparison covers the trade-offs beyond cost.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a virtual assistant cost in Singapore?

Hired direct, a full-time Filipino assistant earns SGD 600 to 1,200 a month, and through an agency you can expect SGD 1,200 to 2,800 all-in. For comparison, a local admin hire on a SGD 3,000 salary costs about SGD 4,720 a month once CPF, leave, a desk and equipment are added.

Do I pay CPF for a Filipino virtual assistant?

No. CPF applies to employees who are Singapore Citizens or permanent residents. An assistant working from the Philippines is neither, so you owe no CPF on what you pay them.

Should I pay a virtual assistant hourly or monthly?

Monthly, for a role you want to keep. Hourly suits trials and project work. Moving a good performer to a monthly salary after about 90 days cuts turnover.

Sources

• CPF Board: How much CPF contributions to pay
• MOM: Annual leave eligibility and entitlement
• MOM: Sick leave eligibility and entitlement
• MOM: Public holidays

If you want the assistant without running payroll, contributions and replacements yourself, that is the part we take on. Book a call and we will price the role you have in mind.