Google Flow is retiring Veo 3.1 Fast and Quality: what changes and what to do

What Google is changing in Flow

Google's Flow help pages carry two notices. The first: "On November 5, 2026, Veo Extend was retired." The second: "On December 5, 2026, Veo 3.1 Fast, Veo 3.1 Quality, and Omni Flash 1.1 will be retired." Until then, Google says, "you can generate with these models at standard credit rates while transitioning your workflows to Omni Flash 1.2 or Veo 3.1 Lite."

Omni Flash is a different model family from Veo, with its own prompting behaviour and per-second credit pricing; Google's credit table has the exact rates. Our Veo 3.1 vs Gemini Omni Flash comparison covers how they differ.

What it means for your credits and plan

Flow credits come with Google AI plans, and daily and monthly credits do not roll over. Free accounts get 50 credits a day. Here is what each plan's monthly credits buy, before and after the change:

If you subscribed mainly for Fast or Quality, the same plan will buy Lite or Omni Flash 1.2 videos after December 5, 2026. That may still be a good deal — Lite is the cheapest model in the table — but check that its 720p output and look suit your work before your next renewal.

Checklist before December 5, 2026

1. 1

   Export a copy of your Flow content

   Google's Flow help explains how to export with Google Takeout: sign in with your Flow account at takeout.google.com, deselect everything, select only Flow, and pick a delivery method. Google notes that exports can take "from a few minutes to several hours" and that download links are active for 7 days. Exporting does not delete anything from Flow. The retirement notice doesn't say existing videos will be removed, but a backup costs nothing.
2. 2

   Finish projects that depend on Fast or Quality

   Until December 5, 2026 these models still run at standard credit rates. If a project needs a consistent look across shots, render the remaining shots on the same model now.
3. 3

   Save the prompts that worked

   Copy the prompts, aspect ratios and any first or last frames you rely on into a document. They carry over to any other Veo 3.1 service; see our Veo 3.1 prompting guide for how to structure them.
4. 4

   Test your key prompts on Lite and Omni Flash 1.2

   These are Google's recommended replacements in Flow. Run a few of your usual prompts on both before the cut-off so you can compare them against Fast or Quality side by side.
5. 5

   Re-plan anything that used Veo Extend

   Extending a clip in Flow now requires Omni Flash 1.2 and a paid Google AI plan. If you were chaining Veo clips, our guide to longer Veo videos shows how to plan multi-clip sequences.

How to keep using Veo 3.1 Fast and Quality

Outside Flow, both models remain generally available on Google Cloud, listed as supported until “May 4, 2027 or later”. Developers can call them there directly (our Gemini API shutdown guide covers the setup). If you want a web app like Flow instead, imaginary.app runs the same Google Cloud models in a browser generator. Here is how Flow's features map to ours:

Honest cost comparison

Per video, Flow is cheaper than we are if you use most of your plan's credits. The "Flow value" column below assumes a fully used Google AI Pro plan; our prices are shown as the range across our plans.

A worked example: 10 Fast videos a month need 200 Flow credits, which Google AI Plus covers at $4.99 a month. On imaginary.app the same 10 videos are 100 credits, covered by the Hero Pack at $37.50 once. Flow wins on price until December 5, 2026. After that the comparison changes: Flow no longer offers Fast at any price, so the choice becomes Lite or Omni Flash in Flow, Google Cloud, or a service like ours.