Short summary

Time etc is a virtual assistant company founded in 2007, operating as Time etc USA with a registered address at Lyndon House, Hagley Road, Birmingham B16 8PE, United Kingdom. Time etc sells monthly bundles of hours to US clients, priced from $390 to $2,160 per month.

Belay is a US staffing and virtual assistant company founded in 2010, headquartered at 100 East Courthouse Square, Cumming, Georgia 30040. Belay places matched assistants from a bench the company describes as over 2,000 US-based professionals. Belay does not publish pricing.

Trustpilot ratings captured on 01-09-2026:

• Time etc: 4.8 out of 5 from 278 reviews. 69 reviews were posted in the preceding 12 months. (source)
• Belay: 4.0 out of 5 from 53 reviews. 52 reviews were posted in the preceding 12 months. (source)

The sections below cover the pricing of each company, what clients praise, what clients criticise, and which buyer each company suits.

What is the difference between Time etc and Belay?

Time etc sells metered hours. A Time etc client buys a monthly allocation of 10, 20, 40 or 60 hours. The Time etc assistant logs time to the second against that allocation. Unused hours roll over on the 20-hour plan and above. Time etc states on its own website that the service suits ongoing assistance and does not suit one-off tasks or projects.

Belay sells a matched placement. A Belay client completes a sales call, signs an agreement, and completes a discovery call with an assigned Client Success Consultant. That consultant vets and interviews candidates from Belay's US bench and selects one match. Belay states an average placement time of approximately one week. The engagement then proceeds through a kickoff call, structured onboarding, and ongoing check-ins (source).

Belay sells financial services that Time etc does not offer. Belay's Financial Solutions line includes bookkeeping, full-service payroll, tax services, accounting clerks, fractional controller and fractional CFO support. Time etc offers administrative and executive assistant support only.

Both companies use US-based assistants. Belay states that all Belay professionals are US-based and work Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm in their own time zone. Time etc advertises 100% US-based virtual assistants for its US service.

Time etc pricing in 2026

Time etc publishes four standard plans. The figures below were read from timeetc.com/plans-and-pricing on 01-09-2026.

Time etc offers larger custom plans on consultation.

What every Time etc plan includes. Time etc lists a dedicated US assistant, expert matching, free additional assistants, free team sharing, a complete satisfaction guarantee, and the ability to switch plans or cancel at any time. Time etc also lists holiday and sickness cover, a dedicated Client Happiness manager, a branded company email address for the assistant, a task management dashboard and mobile app, and to-the-second billing and reporting.

Time etc commercial terms. Time etc charges no setup fee. Time etc states there is no notice period on cancellation. Time etc offers a free first task with no credit card required.

Time etc assistant experience. Time etc states its assistants average 12 years of professional experience. That figure is a company statement and is not independently verified here.

One pricing detail to confirm before signing. Time etc lists "Unused hours rollover" on the 20-hour, 40-hour and 60-hour plans. Time etc does not list rollover on the 10-hour plan. A buyer testing the service at the entry tier who uses six of ten hours would therefore pay $65 per used hour in that month at the listed price. Confirm the rollover policy on the 10-hour plan directly with Time etc.

Belay pricing in 2026

Belay publishes no rate card. Belay's own FAQ page states that US-based virtual assistants generally charge $30 to $75 per hour, which the page translates to approximately $1,200 to $3,000 per month for part-time support. The same page states that Belay charges above that market baseline because of the infrastructure Belay provides around the assistant (source).

That figure describes the wider market. Belay quotes an actual client price on the sales call.

What Belay costs according to Belay clients

Two specific Belay prices appear in the public review record. Both figures come from Trustpilot reviews written by clients raising complaints about cost.

$8,500 per month. A Belay client writing in July 2026 stated he paid $8,500 per month and later learned his assistant received $3,800 of that amount. The same reviewer stated that when he asked his assistant what monthly training she received from Belay, she answered that she received none (source). Belay replied publicly, stating that the billed amount supports the broader team who recruit, match and support both the client and the assistant.

$4,000 per month for 20 hours. A prospective Belay client writing in June 2026 stated Belay quoted him $4,000 per month for 20 hours, compared with $2,000 per month for 40 hours from another provider. He chose the competitor (source). Belay replied publicly, confirming Belay is a premium service and stating that Belay pricing reflects senior-level strategy, partnership and execution.

How to weigh these two figures. Both figures are single-reviewer accounts. Neither figure is confirmed by Belay. The second figure is ambiguous on whether "20 hrs" describes hours per week or hours per month. Read as 20 hours per week, the quoted rate lands close to the $42 to $46 per hour that third-party review sites commonly report for Belay.

Belay direct-hire buyout fee. Third-party review sites report that Belay charges a fee of $10,000 to $20,000 if a client hires a Belay assistant directly, with the fee decreasing as tenure increases. No Belay-published document confirming this fee was located on 01-09-2026. Treat the figure as unverified and ask Belay directly about direct-hire terms.

Time etc reviews vs Belay reviews

Why the solicitation row matters. Belay invites its customers to review and holds a paid Trustpilot business subscription. Time etc does neither. Solicited review bases typically score higher than unsolicited ones, because prompted customers skew satisfied while dissatisfied customers arrive without prompting. Belay scores 4.0 while soliciting. That makes Belay's 15% one-star share a stronger signal.

The counterweight for Time etc. Time etc's 278 reviews accumulated across roughly seven years without solicitation, which produces a self-selected sample. Belay collected 52 reviews in a single year, which produces a more current picture of present-day service.

What Time etc clients praise

Flexibility to scale hours with workload. A Time etc client of 18 months, writing in August 2026, valued adjusting hours up and down against current project demand and working with different assistants who brought different specialist skills (source).

Starting small and scaling gradually. A new Time etc client writing in July 2026 praised the ability to begin on a low number of hours and increase as needed, and cited Time etc's onboarding knowledge articles (source).

To-the-second billing. A Time etc client writing in April 2026 noted that Time etc assistants bill by the minute and described them as efficient with time. To-the-second billing is a structural feature of the Time etc metered model.

Choosing the assistant directly. A Time etc client writing in June 2026 described reviewing multiple applicants, selecting her own match, and working with the same assistant for ten months (source). Another client writing in May 2026 described interviewing several candidates before selecting one (source).

Month-to-month terms. A Time etc client writing in August 2026 cited quality US-based talent alongside the month-to-month arrangement and continued support after signup (source).

What Belay clients praise?

The matching process. Belay clients praise the Belay consultants who run the match, separately from praising the assistant. A Belay client writing in July 2026 stated Belay paired him with someone who began taking work off his plate immediately, and credited the thoughtful questions Belay asked during the process. A Belay client writing in July 2026 credited her Belay representative with grasping her company's values and team personality before identifying an operations specialist.

Depth on financial and accounting work. A Belay client of seven years, writing in July 2026, described Belay supporting his company from near-zero revenue through acquisition and integration into a global corporation. He credited Belay's ability to route complex accounting questions across a wider internal team with varying levels of expertise. He also stated that his investors valued Belay's position as an independent third party that would only approve financial statements following accounting principles (source). This account is the strongest single piece of client evidence in Belay's public record.

Structured onboarding. Multiple Belay clients writing in mid-2026 describe the onboarding process as smooth and clearly communicated, with named consultants checking in periodically.

The Right-Fit Guarantee. Belay states that if a client's first match does not fit at the end of 30 days, Belay provides a rematch at no additional cost. Belay states a 93% first-match success rate. Both figures are company statements published on Belay's Trustpilot profile and are not independently verified here.

What Time etc clients criticise?

Cancellation friction. A Time etc client writing in July 2026 and updating in August 2026 stated she could not cancel her subscription inside the platform, asked four separate times by email before the subscription was cancelled, had a direct debit taken after she blocked it, and was initially refused a refund. She also described the volume of Time etc phone calls, voicemails, texts and emails as excessive (source). A named senior manager at Time etc replied publicly, apologised for the friction, confirmed a full refund had been processed, and stated Time etc was revising its cancellation and communication workflows.

Plan changes and auto-renew resets. A Time etc client writing in July 2026 rated the service 2 out of 5 while praising her assistant in strong terms. She stated that hour reductions she made in the client portal reverted to the higher amount on several occasions, and that Time etc billed her after she turned auto-renew off (source). Time etc replied publicly, moved the account permanently to the lower plan, and approved a refund for the difference.

Assistant turnover in the early period. A Time etc client of three and a half years rated the service 4 out of 5 and described assistants coming and going before she settled with her current match (source). Trustpilot's AI-generated summary of the Time etc review body identifies early assistant matching difficulty and initial onboarding as recurring negative themes.

What Belay clients criticise?

Cost. Cost is the dominant negative theme in Belay reviews. A Belay client writing in July 2026 rated the service 2 out of 5, stated Belay was too expensive, stated the assistants were not on top of the work, and stated he found better cost and value elsewhere. The $8,500 per month client cited above framed his complaint specifically around margin, stating that more than half of his payment went to Belay while his assistant received no ongoing training.

Support tapering over time. Trustpilot's AI-generated summary of the Belay review body states that some Belay clients felt ongoing administrative support diminished over time, producing communication challenges and missed expectations.

Candidate quality. A Belay client writing in July 2026 rated the service 1 out of 5 and described the candidates presented as very poor quality (source). Belay replied publicly stating it had matched the client with an executive assistant candidate holding over 20 years of experience. This exchange is a rare public factual disagreement between a client and provider in this category, and both sides are worth reading.

Onboarding expectations. A Belay client writing in June 2026 rated the service 4 out of 5 and praised her assistant. She identified two specific gaps: she received no reference materials covering Belay's full offering, options and policies after her kickoff call, and she was not told that the kickoff call would be her assistant's first working day, which left her assembling an onboarding plan at short notice (source).

Sales pressure. A Belay prospect writing in June 2026 described the Belay sales process as pushy while rating Belay's customer service as great.

How to read this evidence

Both review bases are small for companies of this age. Time etc has traded since 2007 and holds 278 Trustpilot reviews. Belay has traded since 2010 and holds 53 Trustpilot reviews.

The serious complaints differ by category. Time etc's most serious complaints concern commercial mechanics: cancellation, billing and auto-renew behaviour. Belay's most serious complaints concern price level, margin transparency and value delivered.

Assistants are praised in almost every critical review of both companies. The Time etc reviewer who alleged billing problems described her assistant as deserving 100 stars. The Belay reviewer who objected to the $8,500 monthly fee raised no complaint about his assistant's work.

Both companies engage with negative feedback. Time etc replied to 100% of negative Trustpilot reviews and issued full refunds in the two cases cited above. Belay replied to 90% of negative reviews, typically within 48 hours.

Company marketing claims remain unverified. Belay's stated 93% first-match success rate, bench of over 2,000 professionals, acceptance rate comparison to Harvard, and 10,000 leaders matched are all published by Belay on its Trustpilot profile. Time etc's stated 12-year average assistant experience is published by Time etc. None of these figures is independently audited here.

Time etc vs Belay: head-to-head comparison

Who should choose Time etc?

Choose Time etc if your administrative workload varies month to month, you want a published price you can budget against, and you want to begin at a low commitment and scale upward. The Time etc hour-bundle model suits buyers who can estimate their monthly admin volume and want to pay for that volume precisely.

Before signing with Time etc, confirm the rollover policy on the 10-hour plan and request the cancellation process in writing. Cancellation and billing mechanics are where Time etc complaints concentrate.

Who should choose Belay

Choose Belay if you want a structured hire with a consultant running the vetting, you need more than 60 hours of support per month, or you want administrative support and finance support from a single vendor. Belay's strongest public client evidence concerns its accounting and financial services line.

Before signing with Belay, request the all-in monthly figure early in the sales call, ask directly about the direct-hire buyout fee, and ask what ongoing training and support Belay provides to your assistant. The training question produced the most detailed public complaint in Belay's review record.

Questions to ask either company

Ask what happens when an assistant leaves or underperforms: the replacement timeline, whether you are billed during a coverage gap, and who owns the client relationship. Ask for the full cancellation process in writing. If the price does not appear on the website, obtain it in writing before the second call.

Where Wishup fits

Wishup is a virtual assistant company that places a dedicated assistant on a flat monthly subscription. A Wishup assistant works either four hours or eight hours every business day. Wishup publishes its pricing.

Figures read from wishup.co/pricing on 01-09-2026:

• Prime VA: $1,999 per month. Includes assistants from the top 0.1% of applicants, 3+ years of experience, training in 150+ AI and no-code tools, a dedicated VA manager, 8 weeks of hands-on training, free VA replacement, and 60-minute onboarding.
• Elite VA: $2,999 per month. Adds 5+ years of cross-industry experience, training in 200+ automation workflows, a customer success manager, and a backup VA.
• US-based VA: $5,400 per month. Native English speakers working US hours with verified US background checks.
• Annual billing carries a 5% discount across all plans.

Wishup holds a Trustpilot rating of 4.7 out of 5 from 106 reviews.

How Wishup compares on price. The Wishup Prime VA plan at $1,999 per month sits below Time etc's 60-hour plan at $2,160 per month. The Wishup plan provides dedicated daily coverage of roughly 80 hours per month at the four-hour tier. Against Belay's reported client pricing, Wishup's published rate is a fraction of the cost and is available in 60 minutes.

Where Belay retains a genuine advantage. Belay places US-based assistants working US business hours and sells fractional CFO and controller services. Buyers who require a US-based assistant in a US time zone, or who want finance leadership alongside admin support, have a real reason to pay the Belay premium.

Methodology and disclaimer

Sources consulted: Trustpilot, the pricing and FAQ pages published by each company, and third-party review sites where clearly labelled. All figures were read from the linked pages on 01-09-2026.

This article summarises publicly available third-party reviews and publicly stated company information. Reviews quoted or paraphrased are the opinions of the individuals who posted them and are reproduced as statements of those opinions. Neither this publication nor its author has independently verified any reviewer's account, identity, or commercial relationship with either company. Where a review makes a contested allegation, the company's published response is included where one exists. Any pricing figure sourced from a client review is labelled as unverified throughout this article. Pricing figures sourced from a published rate card are labelled with the page and capture date.

Ratings, review counts, pricing and features change over time. Readers should check the linked sources and contact each vendor directly for current terms.

Brand names and trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners. This comparison is provided for informational purposes and does not imply any partnership, endorsement, or authorisation between the parties.

Corrections are welcome. If either company believes any statement above is inaccurate or out of date, we will review and amend promptly.