Methodology

How we rank agencies

Our rankings answer one question for job seekers: is this agency a good place to work as a VA? Every agency, VA MASTERS included, is scored with the same six criteria, written from the VA's side and fixed on October 25, 2026, before any agency was scored.

The six criteria

25%What VAs say

Ratings from people who work or worked there, on Indeed and Glassdoor. A high rating from many reviews counts for more than a perfect rating from a handful.

9-10: 4.5+ from 100+ reviews. 7-8: 4.0-4.4 from 50+ reviews, or 4.5+ from 20-99. 5-6: 3.5-3.9, or fewer than 20 reviews. 3-4: below 3.5, or no employee reviews found.

20%Safe to apply

A real, registered business with a track record, an official careers page or application channel, a plain statement that applicants never pay anything, and a warning about impostors.

9-10: all four, published. 7-8: established business with an official channel and a no-fees statement. 5-6: established business, official channel, nothing about fees or impostors. 3-4: hard to tell who is hiring or how.

15%Clear hiring process

Publishes its hiring steps, what tests or interviews to expect, and roughly how long it takes.

9-10: steps, tests and timing all published. 7-8: steps published. 5-6: a general description only. 3-4: nothing published.

15%Steady openings

Open remote roles when we checked, and new ones posted regularly.

9-10: 30+ open remote roles, posted continuously. 7-8: 10-29. 5-6: a few, or a talent pool with no listed roles. 3-4: none listed.

10%Schedule options

Part-time and full-time roles, different time zones and shifts, project work.

9-10: part-time, full-time and several time zones, published. 7-8: two of these. 5-6: one fixed setup. 3-4: not published.

15%Support and growth

Published support for the people it places: benefits or paid time off, equipment or internet help, a point of contact, a community, and room to grow into bigger roles.

9-10: several of these, specific and published. 7-8: two or three. 5-6: one, or vague claims. 3-4: nothing published.

Fit for the field

How much of the agency's hiring is in this field: dedicated roles, field-specific openings and the skills it asks for. Ranking pages blend the rubric score (70%) with fit (30%).

What we don't score

Pay. Pay depends on the role, the client and your experience, and few agencies publish it. We don't publish pay figures, so pay isn't part of the score. Ask about it during hiring, and read how VA pay works.
Client prices. This site is for VAs. What clients pay an agency isn't part of the score.
Payment for placement. No agency pays to be listed or ranked, and no payment would change a score. If we ever add sponsored listings, they'll be labeled "Sponsored" and kept apart from the rankings.

Where the facts come from

Each agency's own careers pages, job board and hiring pages.
Employee reviews on Indeed and Glassdoor: the overall rating and the number of reviews.
Every fact has a source and a check date in our data. If something isn't published, we write "Not published".
We name sources in plain text and don't link out to the agencies we rank.

Which agencies we include

Each field page is a shortlist of strong, relevant employers that hire remote VAs in that field, have an official careers channel, and have real employee reviews. Each agency appears on one field page only, where it's most relevant. VA MASTERS appears on every page, because it hires across these fields, and it's labeled "Parent company" wherever it appears. Agencies that charge applicants, work only from an office, or are freelance marketplaces and job boards are not included.

About VA MASTERS

VA Career Hub is published by Outsourcing Insider, a VA MASTERS company. VA MASTERS is scored against the same evidence bar as everyone else and gets its own "what to watch" list. Where another agency scores higher, it ranks higher.

Updates

We re-check every agency at least every three months, and act on correction requests. Agencies can ask to be added through Get listed.