Cloud performance refers to the efficiency and effectiveness with which a cloud system operates delivering hosted services over the internet. As cloud computing continues to offer flexibility, scalability and computational power monitoring and improving cloud performance is essential. Performance optimization is influenced by factors such as load balancing and service broker policies which impact system response times and overall user experience. This paper provides an in-depth review of key publications and real-time cloud performance tools identifying critical performance factors that affect cloud efficiency. Notably, response time emerged as a fundamental metric for cloud service quality. Using CloudSim simulation we examine cloud performance evaluation criteria and experimentally assess the impact of response time dependencies on broker policies, load balancing techniques and data center distribution. This study offers a framework for understanding cloud performance evaluation and highlights strategies to enhance user experience in diverse cloud environments.