diff --git a/.changeset/ssr-element-join-in-place.md b/.changeset/ssr-element-join-in-place.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ece156677
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/ssr-element-join-in-place.md
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+---
+"@solidjs/web": patch
+---
+
+`ssrElement` serializes the common element shapes without the general resolver's allocations
+
+- Children that are one string, a number, nothing, or one finished node now join the open and close tags in place. The general path — `resolveSSRNode` into a fresh `{ t, h, p }` result (an object and three arrays), then `ssr()` over a template array — is taken only for arrays and pending nodes, which need it. Output is unchanged; on a text-content-heavy page this was the single largest cost of a spread element.
+- The array-sources form over plain objects, and an omit over a merge, walk the array they were handed: the resolved `sources`/`kinds` lists (and the `fill(SOURCE_OMIT)` list) are built only when entries differ in kind. A plain source in `pushEntry` is classified with one `$PROXY in` check instead of two.
+
+On yak's element-dense SSR cases (`dyn-translate`, `dyn-fair`, `dyn-inline`) this is +15–21% throughput and −27% bytes allocated per instance, closing the gap to the hand-written writer from 1.76× to 1.46×; `multifile-composition`/`tabs` +3–6%.
diff --git a/packages/web/src/server.ts b/packages/web/src/server.ts
index 9833117b8..5253629f0 100644
--- a/packages/web/src/server.ts
+++ b/packages/web/src/server.ts
@@ -3889,6 +3889,12 @@ function pushEntry(resolved, kinds, s, kind) {
   }
   if (typeof s === "function") s = s();
   if (s == null) return;
+  // The common source is a plain object: one check, no view lookup.
+  if (!($PROXY in s)) {
+    resolved.push(s);
+    kinds.push(SOURCE_PLAIN);
+    return;
+  }
   const view = viewOf(s);
   if (view instanceof OmitView) {
     resolved.push(view);
@@ -3899,7 +3905,7 @@ function pushEntry(resolved, kinds, s, kind) {
     for (let j = 0; j < f.length; j++) pushEntry(resolved, kinds, f[j], k[j]);
   } else {
     resolved.push(s);
-    kinds.push($PROXY in s ? SOURCE_PROXY : SOURCE_PLAIN);
+    kinds.push(SOURCE_PROXY);
   }
 }
 
@@ -3931,12 +3937,26 @@ export function ssrElement(tag, props, children, needsId, skip) {
   // element — and nothing is asked of a store proxy per key but the read.
   // The common case, one plain object, allocates nothing here.
   let sources = null;
+  // The kind of every entry of `sources`: an array, one per entry, or — when
+  // they are all of one kind, the usual case — that kind itself, so the
+  // array form over plain objects and an omit over a merge walk the array
+  // they were handed and allocate no lists of their own.
   let kinds = null;
   let kind = SOURCE_PLAIN;
   if (Array.isArray(props)) {
-    sources = [];
-    kinds = [];
-    for (let i = 0; i < props.length; i++) pushEntry(sources, kinds, props[i], SOURCE_MEMO);
+    let i = 0;
+    for (; i < props.length; i++) {
+      const s = props[i];
+      if (s == null || typeof s === "function" || $PROXY in s) break;
+    }
+    if (i === props.length) {
+      sources = props;
+      kinds = SOURCE_PLAIN;
+    } else {
+      sources = [];
+      kinds = [];
+      for (let i = 0; i < props.length; i++) pushEntry(sources, kinds, props[i], SOURCE_MEMO);
+    }
   } else if (props == null) {
     // A nullish source (static or resolved) is an empty spread (#3297).
     props = {};
@@ -3953,7 +3973,7 @@ export function ssrElement(tag, props, children, needsId, skip) {
       const entries = view.entries;
       if (entries !== undefined) {
         sources = entries;
-        kinds = new Array(entries.length).fill(SOURCE_OMIT);
+        kinds = SOURCE_OMIT;
       } else {
         props = view;
         kind = SOURCE_OMIT;
@@ -3982,13 +4002,14 @@ export function ssrElement(tag, props, children, needsId, skip) {
   let keysOf = null;
   if (sources !== null) {
     keysOf = new Array(last + 1);
-    for (let s = 0; s <= last; s++) keysOf[s] = sourceKeys(sources[s], kinds[s]);
+    for (let s = 0; s <= last; s++)
+      keysOf[s] = sourceKeys(sources[s], typeof kinds === "number" ? kinds : kinds[s]);
   }
   for (let s = 0; s <= last; s++) {
     const keys = keysOf !== null ? keysOf[s] : sourceKeys(props, kind);
     if (sources !== null) {
       props = sources[s];
-      kind = kinds[s];
+      kind = typeof kinds === "number" ? kinds : kinds[s];
     }
     nextKey: for (let i = 0; i < keys.length; i++) {
       const prop = keys[i];
@@ -4071,6 +4092,22 @@ export function ssrElement(tag, props, children, needsId, skip) {
   // `/>` or the slash becomes part of the key's value.
   if (skipChildren) return { t: result + " />" };
   if (typeof children === "function") children = children();
+  // The content most elements end up with — one string (a text child, escaped
+  // above or by the compiler), a number, nothing, or one finished node — joins
+  // in place. That is exactly what the general path below produces for these
+  // shapes, minus its allocations: `resolveSSRNode` builds a `{ t, h, p }`
+  // result (an object and three arrays) to append one string to, and `ssr()`
+  // takes a template array and runs its hole loop to join it back. A spread
+  // element is serialized here on every render, so that was the largest
+  // single cost of the element path (profiled at a third of it on a
+  // text-content-heavy page). The text-adjacency marker state
+  // (`ssrTextTail`) is not touched: the parent resets it on this element's
+  // finished node either way.
+  const ct = typeof children;
+  if (ct === "string" || ct === "number") return { t: result + ">" + children + "</" + tag + ">" };
+  if (children == null || ct === "boolean") return { t: result + "></" + tag + ">" };
+  if (ct === "object" && !children.h && typeof children.t === "string")
+    return { t: result + ">" + children.t + "</" + tag + ">" };
   return ssr([result + ">", `</${tag}>`], resolveSSRNode(children, undefined, true));
 }
 export function ssrAttribute(key: string, value: any): string;
diff --git a/packages/web/test/server/ssr-element-sources.spec.tsx b/packages/web/test/server/ssr-element-sources.spec.tsx
index c666dda79..52bcc9d89 100644
--- a/packages/web/test/server/ssr-element-sources.spec.tsx
+++ b/packages/web/test/server/ssr-element-sources.spec.tsx
@@ -312,6 +312,37 @@ describe("ssrElement with multiple sources", () => {
     expect(render("div", null)).toBe("<div></div>");
     expect(render("br", {}, undefined, true)).toMatch(/^<br _hk=\w+ \/>$/);
   });
+
+  // One string, a number, nothing, or one finished node joins the open and
+  // close tags in place; anything else — arrays, pending nodes — goes through
+  // the tree resolver. Same output either way; this pins the shapes.
+  test("children of every shape serialize as the resolver would", () => {
+    expect(render("p", {}, "text")).toBe("<p>text</p>");
+    expect(render("p", {}, () => "thunked")).toBe("<p>thunked</p>");
+    expect(render("p", {}, 42)).toBe("<p>42</p>");
+    expect(render("p", {}, 0)).toBe("<p>0</p>");
+    expect(render("p", {}, null)).toBe("<p></p>");
+    expect(render("p", {}, undefined)).toBe("<p></p>");
+    expect(render("p", {}, false)).toBe("<p></p>");
+    expect(render("p", {}, true)).toBe("<p></p>");
+    // a finished node from a nested element
+    expect(render("p", {}, () => ssrElement("b", { id: "i" }, "in", false))).toBe(
+      '<p><b id="i">in</b></p>'
+    );
+    // from the sources, escaped or raw
+    expect(render("p", [{ children: 7 }])).toBe("<p>7</p>");
+    expect(render("style", [{ children: "a > b {}" }])).toBe("<style>a > b {}</style>");
+    // arrays take the resolver: an element's direct children are never
+    // separated from each other, a nested array keeps the text separators the
+    // client needs to claim two text nodes
+    expect(render("p", {}, ["a", "b"])).toBe("<p>ab</p>");
+    expect(render("p", {}, () => [1, 2])).toBe("<p>12</p>");
+    expect(render("p", {}, ["a", ssrElement("i", {}, "x", false), "b"])).toBe("<p>a<i>x</i>b</p>");
+    expect(render("p", {}, [["a", "b"]])).toBe("<p>a<!--!$-->b</p>");
+    expect(
+      renderToString(() => [ssrElement("p", {}, "a", false), ssrElement("p", {}, "b", false)])
+    ).toBe("<p>a</p><p>b</p>");
+  });
 });
 
 // omit() and merge() results are walked as VIEWS — the underlying sources,