The disclosed embodiments include a method for providing cloud computing semantic layer. The method comprises receiving a description of a semantic layer operation performed by a semantic layer, the description including multiple implementations of the semantic layer operation, the multiple implementations differing in at least one of cloud operations used or cloud computing platforms used; receiving a request that indicates performance of the semantic layer operation; receiving first resource usage indications corresponding to the cloud operations, wherein the first resource usage indications comprise direct or indirect indications of least one of a storage amount, a compute amount, a number of transactions, a bandwidth, a number of application programming interface calls, or an application or database type associated with each of the cloud operations; selecting a first one of the multiple implementations; and communicating with the first one of the cloud providers to perform the semantic layer operation.