diff --git a/.changeset/eighty-lizards-notice.md b/.changeset/eighty-lizards-notice.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..507d66e3cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/eighty-lizards-notice.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"svelte": patch
+---
+
+chore: improve runtime overhead of creating comment templates
diff --git a/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/template.js b/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/template.js
index 287fba88b8..8f754248e7 100644
--- a/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/template.js
+++ b/packages/svelte/src/internal/client/dom/template.js
@@ -251,7 +251,18 @@ export function text(anchor) {
 	return push_template_node(node);
 }
 
-export const comment = template('<!>', TEMPLATE_FRAGMENT | TEMPLATE_USE_IMPORT_NODE);
+export function comment() {
+	// we're not delegating to `template` here for performance reasons
+	if (hydrating) {
+		return push_template_node(hydrate_nodes);
+	}
+	var frag = document.createDocumentFragment();
+	var anchor = empty();
+	frag.append(anchor);
+	push_template_node([anchor]);
+
+	return frag;
+}
 
 /**
  * Assign the created (or in hydration mode, traversed) dom elements to the current block