As a frontend framework, Svelte apps absolutely run in the browser.However, Svelte relies on a compile step: your authoring code is compiled ahead of time into efficient JS that runs on the client. dagger.js is contrasting itself as purely runtime, build-free — you drop in a script, no compilation needed.

So it’s less about runtime location (Svelte is client-side too) and more about how you get there.

Svelte → compile first, then run in browser

dagger.js → no compile, just run in browser