I am looking to release a new app and the current model the app is using for the free version is Gemini Flash 2.0. In my testing this model works really great for the price. Flash 2.5 is better, but not 4x better, even though it is 4x the cost. And for the free version, cost is paramount.
My fear is that Google will deprecate Flash 2.0 in February 2026 (2-3 months after the release of my app) and I will be left with no equivalent model to replace it. My options are Flash 2.5 at 4x the price, or Flash Lite 2.5 which is the same cost, but in my testing goes off the rails often and gets stuck repeating tokens until it runs out of output tokens.
Were the previous Gemini models deprecated after 1 year exactly? What is the over/under for when Flash 2.0 will be deprecated? Thanks.