The exchange rate is the real cost
Almost everyone compares transfer fees. Almost nobody compares exchange rates, which is where the money actually goes.
Say you send $600 a month. A service advertising a $3 fee but converting two percent below the mid-market rate costs you around $15 in total. A service charging a $6 fee at the mid-market rate costs $6. The one that looked twice as expensive is less than half the price, and over a year the difference is roughly a week of your assistant's pay.
So compare one number only: how many pesos land in their account. Ask your assistant to tell you the amount received, not the amount you sent. That single habit will save you more than any software on this site.
The methods people actually use
| Method | How it works | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Wise | Converts at the mid-market rate with the fee shown separately, paid into a Philippine bank account. Supports sending a batch of people at once. | The recipient needs a bank account in their own name, and the account details must match exactly or the transfer bounces. |
| PayPal | Nearly universal and instant to set up, which is why most people start here. | Usually the most expensive option once the currency conversion is included, and the cost is easy to miss because it sits in the rate rather than the fee. |
| Payoneer | Popular with freelancers who already work through marketplaces, and familiar to many Filipino assistants. | Withdrawal fees and conversion costs vary by route — check what your assistant actually receives. |
| Remittance services | Remitly, WorldRemit and similar services often reach cash pickup points and local wallets, which matters outside major cities. | Promotional first-transfer rates are not the ongoing rate. Compare on the second transfer, not the first. |
| GCash or Maya | The wallets most Filipinos actually spend from day to day, and the fastest to reach. | Usually funded via one of the routes above rather than directly from abroad, so the conversion cost is still incurred somewhere. |
Fees and rates change constantly and vary by corridor, so check current pricing with each provider before choosing. ClockBase prepares batch payouts through Wise; we are not paid to recommend it.
Pay on a date, not on a mood
Salaries in the Philippines are commonly paid twice a month, around the 15th and the end of the month. Rent, tuition and utility due dates are arranged around that rhythm, so a payment arriving “sometime next week” is not a minor inconvenience.
Pick a cadence, put it in writing, and hold it even when the month is busy. If a payday lands on a weekend, pay early rather than late. This is the cheapest loyalty you will ever buy, and its absence is one of the most common reasons good assistants leave.
13th month pay
In the Philippines, 13th month pay is a mandatory annual payment equal to roughly one month's salary, paid to rank-and-file employees by their Philippine employer before Christmas. It is a fixture of the working year there.
If you are a foreign client engaging an independent contractor, that obligation generally does not fall on you. But the expectation frequently survives the legal distinction, and December is a bad month to discover a mismatch. Decide early whether you are paying it, say so in writing, and if you are, budget roughly 8% on top of the annual cost.
Whichever you choose, say it out loud at the start. The damage comes from the silence, not the answer.
Keep a record that survives the argument
Six months from now, someone will ask a question neither of you can answer from memory. Were those weekend hours paid? What rate was used in March? Was the December payment the bonus or the salary?
Whatever tool you use, keep these five things per pay period:
- Hours worked, with breaks already subtracted.
- The agreed rate and the currency it was agreed in.
- The exchange rate used, recorded against that period.
- The amount sent and the amount received.
- A payslip your assistant can see for themselves.
A spreadsheet does this perfectly well for one person. It stops working at about four, which is the point at which most people go looking for something else.
How ClockBase handles it
This guide describes what we do ourselves. ClockBase is the payroll system behind a team of Filipino assistants working for a Canadian company, which is why it treats the three currencies involved as three separate settings rather than one.
- The agreed rate is held in the currency you negotiated in — usually USD.
- The payout is made in the currency your assistant is paid in — PHP.
- The funding account can be a third currency entirely — ours is CAD.
The conversion between the agreed rate and the payout is an explicit rate recorded against that pay period. If the rate is missing, the payroll run stops instead of guessing — a payroll system that guesses at an exchange rate is a payroll system that underpays someone. Each period produces a paystub the assistant can open themselves, and the payouts go out through Wise as one batch so everyone on the run gets the same rate.
This page is general information from our own experience, not legal, tax, or employment advice. Whether your assistant is a contractor or an employee has real consequences in both countries — take proper advice on your own situation.
Common questions
- What is the cheapest way to pay a virtual assistant in the Philippines?
- For most people it is a transfer service that converts at the mid-market rate, such as Wise, paid into the assistant's Philippine bank account. PayPal is the most common choice and usually the most expensive one, because its cost sits mainly in the exchange rate rather than the visible fee. Compare the pesos that land, not the fee that is quoted.
- Should I look at the transfer fee or the exchange rate?
- The exchange rate, almost always. On a $600 payment a two percent spread costs about $12, which will usually exceed the transfer fee itself. The only number that matters is how many pesos arrive in your assistant's account, so calculate that and ignore the marketing.
- Do I have to pay 13th month pay to a Filipino virtual assistant?
- If you are a foreign client engaging an independent contractor, it is generally not a legal obligation on you — that requirement sits with Philippine employers of rank-and-file employees. It is nevertheless a strong cultural expectation, usually paid in early December, and many overseas clients pay it as a bonus. Agree it in writing at the start rather than discovering the expectation in November.
- How often should I pay?
- Semi-monthly (the 15th and the end of the month) matches how salaries are normally paid in the Philippines and is what most assistants budget around. Weekly is fine too if your transfer costs are low, but changing the cadence later is disruptive, so pick one and stay with it.
- Does my assistant need a payslip?
- You are usually not legally required to issue one, but you should. It records the hours, the rate, the exchange rate used, and the total, which is what makes a disagreement six months later a two-minute conversation. It is also what your assistant needs when applying for a loan or a visa, and it is far easier to produce as a by-product of tracking time than to reconstruct.