The Zirtual Alternative: Delegated.com

Which Virtual Assistant Company is Right for You? In looking for a virtual assistant service, you’ll notice that you have plenty of options. In fact, you have too many. How are you supposed to know whether one virtual assistant company will be right for the price and another won’t? How are you supposed to know if Zirtual or Time Etc would be the right choice, as opposed to a service like Delegated?

It’s all enough to make you wish you could hire a virtual assistant to help...with the search for a virtual assistant service. Yikes.

Fortunately, things don’t have to be that complicated. On this page, we’re going to compare two distinct virtual assistant service companies. We’ll look at the current packages, whether the services offer customer support, and whether the price is worth the investment you make.

Our comparison of focus here: Zirtual. 

What You Need to Know About Delegated and Zirtual

Let’s start by highlighting the two companies we’re comparing today, and why Delegated might work as a Zirtual alternative. 

For a virtual assistant service like either of these companies, the structure is straightforward: the virtual assistant on hand is typically employed by the company, or potentially treated as an independent contractor. (With Delegated, for example, the virtual assistants are employees of Delegated). 

• Delegated: Delegated is a newer entry to the scene, employing U.S.-based virtual assistants with experience, education, and specialized skill sets. Delegated puts its VAs through an “intense” screening process and works hard to ensure that those who hire via Delegated have a backup VA and 24/7 support. 
• Zirtual: Delegated functions well as a Zirtual alternative, partially due to the fact that Zirtual also offers U.S. based virtual assistants. Zirtual has been around since 2011, although there was a bump in 2015 when Zirtual suddenly shut down operations. Suddenly, customers were unable to access the VAs with whom they’d been working. They were then acquired by Startups.co, but now uses virtual assistants via contracting to help lower prices.
  

Delegated and Zirtual: A Virtual Assistance Service Side-by-Side Comparison

Let’s be honest: any side-by-side comparison of two distinct packages won’t always exactly fit. That’s why we selected the most comparable packages available at Delegated and Zirtual to give you an idea of what to expect.
From these two virtual assistant companies, we selected the Executive 24 package (Delegated) and the Small Business Plan (Zirtual).

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The Minimum Hourly Rate Offers and Virtual Assistant Packages

We’ll avoid painting a Zirtual alternative with a narrow brush, however, by noting that the “Executive 24” plan is not the only plan available at Delegated. Here’s how the two minimum hourly rate offers and virtual assistant packages compare between Delegated and Zirtual:

Delegated’s Minimum Package:

This package is known as the “Personal 12,” and aimed at people who need a virtual assistant who can knock off their to-do list with ease. Here are the details:

• 12 hours per month
• $420/month
• $35 per hour
• 1 user included
• Additional hours for $40/hour, allowed in 5 hour increments
  

Zirtual’s Minimum Package

Known as the “Entrepreneur Plan,” Zirtual’s minimum package features a similar pricing tier to Delegated. This is where Zirtual’s pricing plan becomes more expensive than Delegate on an hourly basis:

• 12 hours per month
• $449/month
• Approximately $37 per hour
• 1 user included
• Additional hour purchase allowed, or upgrading the plan
  

Note that the differences between these plans aren’t quite the same as the differences between Delegated’s “Executive 24” plan and Zirtual’s “Small Business Plan.” In that plan, the prices are roughly the same, while Zirtual offers more hours but less support for the primary VA. In these plans, the Personal 12 is a lower per-hour price while still allowing for plenty of expert VA experience.

Zirtual vs. Delegated: Who’s Working For You?

The side-by-side comparison above is a nice “clue” into the world of both virtual assistant services. It gives you a broad, eagle-eye view of what their basic packages might look like, and what you can expect if you use one package over the other.

But there are some key distinctions that we should point out, too. For example, Zirtual switching to contractor-based work as a cost-saving measure was critical to its survival as a company. That helps explain the reduced cost for its plans. You can indeed access Zirtual personal assistant services for a relatively small amount of money.

But one concern of business owners is reliability. They want to know that if they need extra work on hand, or sudden customer support, that it will be there for them. We see that show up in the Delegated column: 24/7 support and a backup assistant are provided as part of the services. This gives business owners a great deal of confidence that they’re going to have the assistance they need when they need it.

Let’s look at some of the other facts when it comes to who you’re working with:

• Zirtual assistants are put through a rigorous screening process, according to the site, in which only 2% of applicants make it to the platform. They’re college-educated and based in the United States.
• Delegated assistants are also based in the U.S. They also have verified, real-world experience in virtual assisting, as well as “proprietary training and ongoing education.” Delegated points out that it maintains a dossier on clients so that virtual assistants can easily access client preferences, reducing the learning curve and making for a more consistent experience.
  

Delegated's Key Differences From Zirtual

How can a Zirtual alternative work if Zirtual has slashed its prices thanks to a new reliance on freelancers? In the world of executive assistants, it’s important to note what matters most to you. Here are some of the key differences that distinguish Delegated from Zirtual:

• 24/7 support. Because Delegated features a 24/7 emergency response team, one of the key differences between the two services is this flexibility. Although Zirtual does promise to keep its VAs open during business hours--typically applying to U.S. business hours--Delegated has an “emergency response team” always on call. 
• A backup assistant. A backup assistant is important, because having one in place means that you have the flexibility to deal with the sudden dropoff of a virtual assistant. Rather than frantically looking through a search engine to hire someone quickly, that dropoff would mean that your business could continue humming along with Delegated. 
• Accountability guarantee. Delegated’s money back guarantee is another layer of security between you and the unknown. Although this guarantee likely won’t require a lot of use when you’re dealing with VAs with years of experience, you’ll still have that extra layer of security in the back of your mind.‍

More About Zirtual

Zirtual is a privately held company that’s been on the scene since 2011, though it’s changed a lot over the years. It had a big role to play in the emergence of virtual assistants working through a company, which then offered its virtual assistant services to clients. It was a medium of bringing VAs across the world into one reliable place so clients would be able to skip the guesswork of hiring VAs on their own.

Zirtual had to pause its operations in 2015, after which the company sold and began a restructuring process that saw it bring in freelance virtual assistants to help with the pricing model. This is reflected in Zirtual’s current offerings, which are price competitive. However, those companies that want to hire a VA that has a reliable job with the VA company for which they work should know that Zirtual underwent this shift.

More About Delegated

You might have noticed that Zirtual has a long history--since 2011. What about Delegated? Where has it come from, and where is it going?

Delegated’s recent rollout is focused on finding the experienced, skilled virtual assistants who can deliver on the exact tasks a broad range of client needs. For example, today’s digital world includes a broad range of social media needs. Delegated’s approach is to find a base of U.S. virtual assistants, many of whom have a background in handling social media like LinkedIn and Pinterest. 

What Should You Do Now?

Is it enough to know a Zirtual alternative? If you’re interested in Delegated’s services, now’s the time to take action. You might consider signing up for the minimum tier to start with, just to test out the waters. To do so, sign up with Delegated and get started with a customer success manager who will help you get you the right VA right away.