Calling gemini-2.5-pro from a newly created GCP project (or a project with no prior usage of this model) returns a 404:
{
“error”: {
“code”: 404,
“message”: “This model models/gemini-2.5-pro is no longer available to new users. Please update your code to use a newer model for the latest features and improvements.”,
“status”: “NOT_FOUND”
}
}
Contradiction with official docs
The model versions and lifecycle page still lists gemini-2.5-pro as available, with a shutdown date of October 16, 2026. There’s no mention anywhere of a separate restriction for new keys/projects.
Questions
Is this “no longer available to new users” restriction intentional and permanent?
What exactly determines “new user” here — API key age, project usage history, or something else?
Could this be documented on the model lifecycle page, so it doesn’t come as a surprise to developers building against the documented shutdown date?
Additional reports
Another user in this related thread reported hitting the same “no longer available to new users” message on a paid account, after losing access to a previous account — even paid users aren’t exempt from this restriction.
To ensure reliable performance for everyone, we are limiting access to the 2.5 models to users who have actively used them in the past. These models are not deprecated and will continue to be served until further notice. For your new projects, please use our latest models of equivalent quality: 3.1 Flash-Lite or 3.5 Flash. This helps us maintain sufficient capacity for both ongoing legacy workflows and new applications.
“For your new projects, please use our latest models of equivalent quality: 3.1 Flash-Lite or 3.5 Flash.” We both know that this is not true. Many people out there are ready to pay a premium price just to be able to access the unnerfed predeprecation version of Gemini 2.5 Pro on AI Studio.
Can you help us with this issue? Is there any way we can make our voices heard by the Google decision making team so we can keep our beloved highly intellectual Gemini 2.5 Pro with its original performance? Alternatively if possible, can you suggest any ways to maintain and replicate the performance of Gemini 2.5 Pro using the current AI Studio versions?
I would truly appreciate your answer. This is incredibly important to me and many others including founders, teams, and copywriters who have been relying heavily on this model. Thank you.
The newer models dont have search grounding on free tire but the gemini 2.5 versions do, is this google’s way of saying that you cant use the free version which is supposed to be free to use.
Already they made it behind paywall. It is available only for Pro or API Key Users. I subscribed to Pro Plan only for Gemini 2.5 Pro. It should remain without any deprecations. Currently in their Deprecations Page, they removed the shutdown date announced. I welcome this move by google, I think they are still consumer friendly!
It is totally okay to use different models, but if you could put the information, some people can no longer use, on the official document, it is helpfull for us. Now we don’t have any way to know we cannot use 2.5 pro on some cases.
