Near and nearby both mean close. They are just used differently in the sentence.

Here are some guidelines:

It is what a PREPOSITION does. A preposition is a word that shows the relation of one word in a sentence to another word.

• There is a beach near my house.  (this means that there is a beach close to my house)
• He worked in a restaurant near the station. Not: He worked in a restaurant nearby the station.

NEARBY can never be properly used as a preposition, although you may hear someone say it occasionally:

• The book is nearby the table. (it is not considered correct)
• The book is near the table. (near means close to the table)

• We can meet at a nearby beach.
• Luckily, the nearby buildings weren’t damaged by the fire.

• The beach is nearby.
• Does Paul live nearby? 

Remember that an ADVERB is a word that tells us more about a verb, an adjective or another adverb. It describes or modifies these words.

So, note that NEARBY can appear either before or after a noun that it describes, but NEAR can normally appear only before the noun, and even then, only when referring to time:

• We slept at a nearby motel. (nearby + noun)
• We slept at a motel nearby. (noun + nearby)
• I hope to visit you in the near future. (near + noun, and near=close in time)

So, NEAR can mean close in time (=soon), as well as close in distance, but nearby cannot, as shown below:

• Summer is near. [near=close in time]
• May is nearby.  [nearby cannot mean close in time]

According to Practical English Usage by Michael Swan, near to is also possible with the same meaning as near, but it is less common.

• There is a beach near (to) my house.
• I came near (to) hitting him. (prep + verb + ing)