Please don't discontinue Gemini 2.5 Flash
discuss.ai.google.dev
July 10, 2026
2 min read
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53/100
Summary
Users express concern over the potential discontinuation of Gemini 2.5 Flash due to its superior performance in specific workflows compared to Gemini 3 Flash. Internal benchmarks indicate that Gemini 3 Flash does not meet the same performance standards, even after adjustments to prompting.
Key Takeaways
- Users report that Gemini 2.5 Flash outperforms Gemini 3 Flash in internal benchmarks, particularly for specific workflows.
- Gemini 2.5 Flash provides low latency completions of 300-400ms, making it suitable for voice agents, while Gemini 3.5 Flash has higher latency of 600-800ms.
- The cost of upgrading from Gemini 2.5 Flash to Gemini 3.5 Flash is approximately three times higher, raising concerns about affordability.
- Users express a strong preference for retaining Gemini 2.5 Flash due to its unique performance and cost-effectiveness compared to other available models.
Community Sentiment
Positives
- The 1.5 and 2.0 Flash models were absolute beasts — cheap and fast, making them ideal for fine-tuned workloads with substantial latency reductions.
- Some users are optimistic about the potential for open weights models, suggesting they could provide a more reliable alternative in the long run.
Concerns
- Every generation after Gemini 2.0 Flash has been a grim hit on price/performance — costs are up, throughput down, with only slight performance improvements.
- The leap in costs from Gemini 2.5 Flash to 3.5 Flash is staggering, tripling the expense and raising concerns about the end of affordable AI.
- There's a growing sentiment that relying on proprietary models in production is risky, as they can be taken away at any time, leaving users in a bind.
