Know what Fanar tells customers about you
Fanar is Qatar’s national Arabic AI platform, built by the Qatar Computing Research Institute. It answers in Arabic first and is designed around the region’s language and culture. CitedSEO checks whether Fanar recommends your business when customers ask.
- Built by
- Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI), Hamad Bin Khalifa University
- Country
- Qatar
- Launched
- December 2024 (Fanar 2.0 in December 2025)
- Languages
- Arabic (MSA and dialects) and English
- Where people use it
- fanar.qa chat and the Fanar API
What is Fanar?
Fanar is a generative AI platform developed by the Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, with support from Qatar’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. It was built Arabic-first, trained on hundreds of billions of Arabic words, and designed to respect local culture and values.
Fanar 2.0, launched in December 2025, grew to 27 billion parameters and added Arabic reasoning, image understanding, speech to text, text to speech and Arabic poetry generation. People use it through the chat at fanar.qa, and organizations connect to it through its API.
Why your visibility in Fanar matters
Fanar is Qatar’s sovereign AI, so government bodies, universities and enterprises in Qatar are natural early adopters. Being recommended correctly in Fanar matters if you sell to them or to Qatari consumers.
- It answers mainly in Arabic, so brands with weak Arabic content are often missing from its answers.
- Fanar uses its own safety and cultural alignment layer, so the way it describes businesses can differ from ChatGPT or Gemini.
- Few tools track Fanar at all. Measuring it early gives you a head start before your competitors notice.
How CitedSEO tracks your brand in Fanar
Define your brand and rivals
Add your brand in English, Arabic script and Arabizi, your named competitors, and the questions your customers really ask.
We ask Fanar in your markets
The same questions go to Fanar in English, Modern Standard Arabic and Lebanese, Gulf and Egyptian dialects, on your plan schedule.
Read the result
Mention rate, share of voice against competitors, the sources it cites, and the prompts where you are absent.
How to get recommended by Fanar
- Build a strong Arabic version of your website, especially your service pages, About page and contact details.
- Make sure your brand is described the same way in Arabic and English everywhere it appears online.
- Answer common questions from Gulf customers in clear Arabic, including prices, locations, opening hours and how to book.
- Get listed and mentioned on Qatari and GCC sources: local news, business directories, chambers of commerce and university or government partner pages.
- Keep content factual and culturally appropriate, since Fanar is designed to favor reliable, aligned information.
- Track Fanar with CitedSEO in Gulf Arabic and MSA and compare it with the global engines.
Frequently asked questions
Who built Fanar?
Fanar was developed by the Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, with support from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in Qatar.
What changed in Fanar 2.0?
Fanar 2.0, launched in December 2025, uses a 27 billion parameter model and adds Arabic reasoning, images, speech and poetry generation on top of text chat.
Can CitedSEO track my brand in Fanar?
Yes. CitedSEO connects to Fanar directly and runs your prompts in Arabic dialects and English, then reports mentions, position and competitors.
Is Fanar only useful for businesses in Qatar?
No. Fanar answers questions about the whole Arabic-speaking world, but it is especially important if you sell in Qatar or to Qatari institutions.
See what Fanar says about your brand today
Create a free account, add your brand and competitors, and see where you appear and where you are missing in Fanar and every other engine.