diff --git a/.changeset/create-element-fast-path.md b/.changeset/create-element-fast-path.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8b88a14163
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/create-element-fast-path.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'svelte': patch
+---
+
+perf: use `createElement` instead of `createElementNS` for HTML elements
diff --git a/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/operations.js b/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/operations.js
index f6d05162ca..bc12a0b07e 100644
--- a/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/operations.js
+++ b/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/operations.js
@@ -233,6 +233,12 @@ export function should_defer_append() {
 }
 
 /**
+ * Branching here is intentional and load-bearing for perf. `createElement(tag)`
+ * hits a fast path in Blink that `createElementNS(NAMESPACE_HTML, tag)` doesn't,
+ * and passing an explicit `undefined` as the trailing options arg measurably
+ * slows both APIs. Funnelling every case through a single `createElementNS(ns,
+ * tag, options)` call would be smaller but slower on the HTML path.
+ *
  * @template {keyof HTMLElementTagNameMap | string} T
  * @param {T} tag
  * @param {string} [namespace]
@@ -240,9 +246,13 @@ export function should_defer_append() {
  * @returns {T extends keyof HTMLElementTagNameMap ? HTMLElementTagNameMap[T] : Element}
  */
 export function create_element(tag, namespace, is) {
-	let options = is ? { is } : undefined;
+	if (namespace == null || namespace === NAMESPACE_HTML) {
+		return /** @type {T extends keyof HTMLElementTagNameMap ? HTMLElementTagNameMap[T] : Element} */ (
+			is ? document.createElement(tag, { is }) : document.createElement(tag)
+		);
+	}
 	return /** @type {T extends keyof HTMLElementTagNameMap ? HTMLElementTagNameMap[T] : Element} */ (
-		document.createElementNS(namespace ?? NAMESPACE_HTML, tag, options)
+		is ? document.createElementNS(namespace, tag, { is }) : document.createElementNS(namespace, tag)
 	);
 }