Skip to content
TrustList
News

Google limits Gemini 2.5 to existing users; Vertex AI lists 20 October retirement

Editorial

By TrustList Editorial

Google now serves Gemini 2.5 through its API only to users who already used it, and its Vertex AI page lists 20 October as the retirement date for 2.5 Pro, Flash and Flash-Lite.

About Google limits Gemini 2.5 to existing users; Vertex AI lists 20 October retirement

Google limits Gemini 2.5 to existing users; Vertex AI lists 20 October retirement

22 September 2026 — Google has formally limited who can use its Gemini 2.5 models. In a Gemini API release note dated 18 September 2026, it says it is "limiting access to the 2.5 models to users who have actively used them in the past". It tells anyone starting a new project to use Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite or 3.8 Flash instead. Google Cloud's own model lifecycle page, updated on 22 September, goes further and lists 20 October 2026 as the retirement date for Gemini 2.5 Pro, 2.5 Flash and 2.5 Flash-Lite on Vertex AI.

What changes

The Gemini API note says the 2.5 models "are not deprecated and will continue to be served until further notice through the API". It gives capacity as the reason: Google wants room for "both ongoing legacy workflows and new applications". The Gemini API deprecations page repeats this and shows no shutdown date for gemini-2.5-pro.

The Vertex AI page, which covers Gemini through Google Cloud, is more specific. It lists gemini-2.5-pro, gemini-2.5-flash and gemini-2.5-flash-lite with a retirement date of 20 October 2026. It names gemini-3.5-flash, gemini-3.5-flash-lite, gemini-3.1-flash-lite or Gemma 4 as replacements. The live native-audio 2.5 model follows on 13 December 2026, and gemini-2.5-flash-image on 15 March 2027. Google says these dates may be extended but will not be brought forward.

The restriction is not entirely new. On Google's developer forum in late July, users reported that new projects calling gemini-2.5-pro got an error saying the model was "no longer available to new users". A Google staff member replied using the same wording that now appears in the release notes.

Who is affected

Teams that planned new work on Gemini 2.5 may find it unavailable, even on paid accounts. Organisations running 2.5 through Vertex AI face a fixed date less than four weeks away. Buyers of software built on Gemini are also exposed, because a supplier's feature may depend on a 2.5 model and on whichever Google endpoint the supplier uses.

What to do

  • Do not start new builds on Gemini 2.5. Start on a current 3.x model and record the model ID in your design documents.
  • If you run 2.5 on Vertex AI, treat 20 October 2026 as the deadline. Test the named replacements for quality, latency, cost per request and structured-output behaviour, then switch.
  • If you use the Gemini API directly, you can keep running existing 2.5 workloads for now. Budget for a move anyway, as Google has given no guaranteed end date.
  • Ask suppliers which Gemini model and which Google endpoint their features use, and when they will change. Get the answer in writing if the feature is in your contract.
  • Keep an eye on both Google pages. They currently describe the same models differently.

Not yet independently verified. This rests on Google’s own pages, which disagree: the Gemini API calls the 2.5 models “not deprecated”, while Google Cloud’s Vertex AI page lists a 20 October 2026 retirement. No independent report of it was found, so it is only as reliable as that page. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

Sources

Keep exploring

More on TrustList

Everything here links back to the same verified catalogue. Pick your next stop.