# Understanding Membership Tiers
CaseConnect offers three membership tiers designed to meet different needs and budgets.
## Free Tier
The Free tier is perfect for getting started with CaseConnect:
**Included Features:**
- Create up to 10 cases
- Access external case databases (FBI ViCAP, NamUs, GBI)
- Submit cases to public database
- Access community forum
- 100 MB storage
**Limitations:**
- No team collaboration
- No report exports
- No AI Assistant access
- No face recognition
- No priority support
## Basic Tier
The Basic tier adds collaboration and export capabilities:
**Everything in Free, plus:**
- Create up to 50 cases
- Team collaboration (up to 5 members)
- Export case reports (PDF, CSV)
- 500 MB storage
**Still Missing:**
- AI Assistant
- Face recognition
- Priority support
## Premium Tier
The Premium tier unlocks all features:
**Everything in Basic, plus:**
- Unlimited cases
- AI Assistant for case analysis
- Face recognition capabilities
- Create tiplines for cases
- Priority customer support
- Unlimited team members
- 10 GB storage
## Upgrading Your Tier
To upgrade your membership:
1. Click your profile dropdown in the top navigation
2. Select "Upgrade Membership"
3. Choose your desired tier
4. Complete payment through our secure Stripe checkout
5. Your new features are immediately available
## What Happens to My Data When I Downgrade?
If you downgrade from a higher tier:
- **Existing cases**: You keep all cases you've created, but can't create new ones beyond the limit
- **Teams**: Existing teams remain, but you can't create new ones
- **Tiplines**: Existing tiplines continue to work; you just can't create new ones
- **Reports**: Previously exported reports remain accessible
- **Storage**: Your data remains intact, but you can't upload new files beyond the limit
## Feature Comparison
| Feature | Free | Basic | Premium |
|---------|------|-------|---------|
| Max Cases | 10 | 50 | Unlimited |
| Team Collaboration | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Report Exports | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| External Search | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| AI Assistant | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Face Recognition | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Create Tiplines | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Priority Support | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Storage | 100MB | 500MB | 10GB |
## Which Tier is Right for Me?
**Choose Free if:**
- You're just getting started
- You're working on a small number of cases
- You don't need collaboration features
**Choose Basic if:**
- You need to collaborate with a team
- You want to export reports
- You're managing multiple cases (up to 50)
**Choose Premium if:**
- You're a professional investigator
- You need AI-powered analysis
- You want face recognition capabilities
- You need to create tiplines for public outreach
- You require priority support