Choosing between a Client account and an Investigator account

NearbySpy supports two account types: Client and Investigator. The one you pick decides which dashboard you land on, what you can do, and how the platform treats your data. You only need one account, and you can change roles later by contacting support, but it is much easier to choose correctly the first time.

Pick a Client account if

• You want to hire a Private Investigator for a specific situation: locating a person, surveillance, background research, infidelity, missing assets, or due diligence.
• You represent a law firm, corporation, or insurer and need a vetted PI for a matter.
• You expect to participate in one or more Cases that an Investigator runs for you. The Investigator opens the Case; you accept the invitation and access the Case from your Client dashboard.

As a Client you do not list yourself in the public directory and you do not run Cases. You read what your Investigator shares: visible Operations, shared Evidence, Reports, Messages, and any video calls or documents they send your way. The typical entry point is described in Accepting a Case invitation.

Pick an Investigator account if

• You are a licensed Private Investigator (or you operate an agency) and you want to take work through the marketplace.
• You want to manage your existing Cases (Operations, Evidence, Subjects, Reports, billing) inside one platform instead of across email, Dropbox, and a CRM.
• You want a public profile that Clients can find by searching their location and your specialty.

Investigator accounts go through a short onboarding flow that confirms your name, license details, location, specialties, and profile basics. See Completing Investigator onboarding for what to expect.

What if I am both

It happens. A PI may need to hire another PI as a subcontractor on a Case. In that situation, keep your Investigator account and accept the Client-side invitation from the other PI through the same login. NearbySpy stores roles per Case, so on one Case you can be the Owner and on another Case you can be a Client. See Case roles for how Case-level roles work independently of your account-level role.

Can I switch later

Account-level role changes are a manual step today because they affect billing, public visibility, and onboarding requirements. If you signed up as a Client and need to become a Private Investigator, contact support through the support form with your license information. Going from Investigator to Client is rarer and also handled by support.

Where to go next

If you are leaning Client, head to How to sign up and sign in and wait for an invite from your Investigator. If you are leaning Investigator, sign in and complete Investigator onboarding, then read Checklist before your first Case.