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Deprecations / Migrate

Migrate off Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-25)

Retired

Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-25) has been retired and shut down on 17 Feb 2026. Google's official replacement is Gemini 3.6 Flash. The cheapest comparable model we track is Ministral 3 3B (Mistral) at $0.1 per 1M tokens blended.

Last verified: 19 Aug 2026 · sourced from official provider documentation

StatusRetiredGoogle
Shut down17 Feb 2026plan ahead
Official replacementGemini 3.6 Flash$1.50 /M blendedCheapest alternativeMinistral 3 3B$0.1 /M blended
What changes

Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-25) → Gemini 3.6 Flash

SpecGemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-25)Gemini 3.6 Flash
StatusRetiredGA
Blended price /1M—$1.50
Input / output /1M—$0.75 / $3.75
Context window—1.0M
Max output—65.536
Modalitytext, image, video, audio, pdftext, image, video, audio, pdf
Knowledge cutoff——

API string was gemini-2.5-flash-preview-09-25 → switch to gemini-3.6-flash. See Gemini 3.6 Flash's full spec sheet →

Cheapest alternatives

Budget-friendly replacements for Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-25)

Generally-available models that match Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-25)'s capabilities, ranked by blended price. Every number is computed from official catalog prices.

ModelBlended /1MInput / outputContext
Ministral 3 3B
Mistral
$0.1$0.1 / $0.1—
Amazon Nova Lite
Amazon
$0.105$0.06 / $0.24300K
Llama 4 Scout (17B-16E Instruct)
Meta
$0.15$0.1 / $0.310M
FAQ

Migrating off Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-25)

What replaces Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-25)?

Google's recommended migration for Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-25) is Gemini 3.6 Flash. The cheapest comparable model in our catalog is Ministral 3 3B (Mistral) at $0.1/1M blended.

Is Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-25) still available?

No — Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-25) has been retired (shut down 17 Feb 2026) and is no longer available via Google's API.

What is the cheapest alternative to Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-25)?

Ministral 3 3B (Mistral) is the cheapest generally-available alternative we track that matches Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-25)'s capabilities, at $0.1 per 1M input and $0.1 per 1M output tokens ($0.1/1M blended).

Browse the full deprecation watch → or see Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview (09-25)'s full spec sheet →