In this technical note, an annualized life cycle costing method has been used for the economic evaluation of various designs of solar stills. The cost of distilled water and the payback period have been evaluated on the basis of monthly performance. It is observed that the cost of distilled water per m2is most economical for the multi-wick double effect distillation unit due to low water depth in the basin and re-utilization of latent heat of vapourization. Further, the payback period is also reduced.