  Cloud computing can be defined as the outsourcing / renting of resources over
the network. It has been regarded as an essential utility similar to
electricity, water, telephone and sewerage utilities. Over the years, a number
of providers have emerged that provide basic and advanced form of services for
cloud computing. However, these providers employ their own nomenclature for
marketing their specification and the range of services offered by them. This
makes it very difficult for a common user to select a platform based on their
requirements. This paper provides a comparison of different cloud service
providers from an economic perspective. It performs the cost analysis of
services provided by providers for different scenarios. Based on the analysis,
conclusions have been drawn and directions for further research have been
provided.
