There are very few niches where the cloud makes sense: Namely, where you are either too small to benefit from a single server and a single entry-level IT guy (think three or four person companies with low need for technical competency), or where you are expecting rapid growth and can't really rationally size out your own hardware for the job (in this case, the cloud is useful initially, leave it later once your scale is more stable).
In every other case, you are paying for the same hardware you could buy yourself, plus the cloud provider's IT staff, plus your own IT staff which you likely need anyways to figure out how to deal with the cloud provider, and then the cloud provider's profit margin, which is sizeable.
In every other case, you are paying for the same hardware you could buy yourself, plus the cloud provider's IT staff, plus your own IT staff which you likely need anyways to figure out how to deal with the cloud provider, and then the cloud provider's profit margin, which is sizeable.