Hire a VA in five clear steps from search to first paycheck
Aides is a marketplace of real, ID-verified virtual assistants. You search by skill and by the hours you need covered, message the people who fit, test them with a short paid task, hire the one who does the best work and pay them directly. There is no agency between you and your assistant, no markup on their rate and no percentage taken from their pay. You pay Aides a flat monthly or yearly subscription for the search, the messaging and the hiring tools.
- Every assistant passes an ID and liveness check. No AI personas.
- You pay your assistant directly. No markup.
Five steps from search to a working assistant
Each step happens inside your Aides account, so the conversation, the trial task and the agreement stay in one place.
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1. Search by skill and time zone
Pick a skill such as inbox and calendar, customer support or bookkeeping prep, set your working hours and your time zone, and choose how many hours per week you need. Results show each verified assistant with their skills, their typical hourly rate and the exact hours they overlap with your workday. You can save the strongest profiles to a shortlist and compare them side by side.
- Filter by skill, overlap hours, weekly availability and budget
- See skills test results on every profile
- Save profiles to shortlists and share them with your team
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2. Message the people who fit
Open a conversation with an assistant straight from their profile. Describe the work, the tools you use and the hours you need. Good first messages are specific, for example "I need someone to clear my inbox every morning before 9 a.m. Eastern and keep my calendar free of double bookings." Each plan includes a set number of new assistant conversations per month, and replies inside an open conversation never count again.
- Ask about their experience with your exact tools
- Confirm the hours they can cover and their rate
- Agree on a short trial task before any long commitment
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3. Run a paid trial task
Before you hire, give your top one or two candidates the same small, real task and pay them for it. Two to four hours is usually enough: triage a week of email, build a simple tracking sheet, answer a batch of support tickets or clean up a contact list. A paid trial shows you how they communicate, how they handle unclear instructions and how fast they deliver, which a profile alone cannot tell you.
- Use a real task with a clear finish line
- Pay the agreed trial rate directly to the assistant
- Compare quality, speed and questions asked
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4. Hire and set the terms
When you pick your assistant, mark the hire in Aides and agree on the hours, the rate, the payment schedule and the tools they will access. On Growth and higher plans you get work agreement templates that cover scope, confidentiality and ownership of work, plus a timesheet log both of you can see. Read more in our guide to hiring a virtual assistant.
- Set weekly hours and overlap times
- Agree on the rate and when you pay
- Share tool access with the least permissions needed
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5. Pay your assistant directly
You pay your assistant directly, by the method you both agree on, on the schedule you set. Aides never adds a fee on top of their rate and never takes a cut from what they earn. Your Aides subscription is the only thing you pay us, and it stays the same whether your assistant works 5 hours a week or 40.
- No markup on the hourly rate
- Assistants keep 100 percent of what you pay them
- One flat subscription for your account
Why this process protects you
Every assistant on Aides passes a government ID check and a liveness check before their profile goes live, so the person you message is the person in the photo. Adults only, real photos, no AI personas. See how we do it on the verified virtual assistant page.
- Verified identity before the first message
- Overlap hours shown in search, not promised later
- A paid trial before any long commitment
Pick the plan that matches how many people you hire
Starter covers one active hire for 49 USD per month or 24 USD per month billed yearly. Growth adds agreement templates and a timesheet log, Business adds seats, roles and an identity verification report per hire, and Enterprise adds SSO and an audit log. Compare every limit on the virtual assistant cost page.
Questions about how hiring works
Who pays the assistant?
You do, directly. Aides charges you a flat subscription and does not touch your assistant's pay, so there is no markup and no percentage taken from their rate.
Do I have to run a trial task?
No, but we recommend it. A short paid trial of two to four hours on real work tells you more about fit than any interview, and it is fair to the assistant because their time is paid.
What if the hire does not work out?
End the arrangement with your assistant on the terms you agreed, then message other assistants from your shortlist. Your plan limits renew each billing period, so you can start new conversations right away within your plan.
Can my assistant work my hours?
Search shows the exact hours each assistant overlaps with your workday, so you only message people who can cover the hours you need. Assistants can be in any country.
Can I cancel my Aides plan?
Yes, cancel anytime from your account. Your access runs to the end of the period you already paid for, and payments are final as described in our refund policy.
Find your assistant today
Search verified assistants by skill and time zone and see who overlaps with your workday.