Lazarus is often used to create native-code console and graphical user interface (GUI) applications for desktop computers, mobile devices, web applications, web services, visual components, and function libraries for several different operating system platforms, including macOS, Linux, and Windows.

For example, the Lazarus IDE is created from one code base and available on all major platforms including Raspberry Pi.

Lazarus provides a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) development environment for creating rich user interfaces, application logic, and other supporting code artifacts, similar to Delphi.

Applications for embedded devices (smartphones, PDAs, routers, game consoles) can be cross-compiled from any desktop platform.

LCL was originally modeled after the Visual Component Library (VCL) in Delphi 6, but is not restricted to Windows.

[3] Developers can install packages that allow Lazarus to support several database management systems (DBMSes).

When porting, missing units in the libraries are a considerably bigger problem than incompatibilities between LCL and VCL.

The first attempt to develop an IDE for Free Pascal dates back to 1998, under the "Megido" project.

It is inspired by Lazarus of Bethany, who, according to the Gospel of John, was restored to life by Jesus four days after his death.