diff --git a/.changeset/sdk-6948-v8-bsstag-host-recognition.md b/.changeset/sdk-6948-v8-bsstag-host-recognition.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a3d41ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/sdk-6948-v8-bsstag-host-recognition.md
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+"@wdio/browserstack-service": patch
+---
+
+fix(util): recognize `*.bsstag.com` hosts as BrowserStack (internal staging, SDK-6948)
+
+`getCloudProvider` and `isBrowserstackInfra` only matched `browserstack.com`, so a session pointed at an internal staging env (`*.bsstag.com`) was classified as non-BrowserStack — the service then skipped its instrumentation and GRR host rewriting, and the WebDriver hub stayed on production. Recognize `bsstag` / `.bsstag.com` in both guards. Ports the main/v9 fix (#56/#65) to the v8 line.
diff --git a/packages/browserstack-service/src/util.ts b/packages/browserstack-service/src/util.ts
index 11e1bdd..30a1c3f 100644
--- a/packages/browserstack-service/src/util.ts
+++ b/packages/browserstack-service/src/util.ts
@@ -1034,11 +1034,11 @@ export function getCloudProvider(browser: WebdriverIO.Browser | WebdriverIO.Mult
         // Loop through all instances
         for (const instanceName of browser.instances) {
             const instance = (browser as any)[instanceName] as WebdriverIO.Browser
-            if (instance.options && instance.options.hostname && instance.options.hostname.includes('browserstack')) {
+            if (instance.options && instance.options.hostname && (instance.options.hostname.includes('browserstack') || instance.options.hostname.includes('bsstag'))) {
                 return 'browserstack'
             }
         }
-    } else if (browser.options && browser.options.hostname && browser.options.hostname.includes('browserstack')) { // Single browser instance
+    } else if (browser.options && browser.options.hostname && (browser.options.hostname.includes('browserstack') || browser.options.hostname.includes('bsstag'))) { // Single browser instance
         return 'browserstack'
     }
     return 'unknown_grid'
@@ -1168,7 +1168,7 @@ export function isBrowserstackInfra(config: BrowserstackConfig & Options.Testrun
     // a utility function to check if the hostname is browserstack
 
     const isBrowserstack = (str: string ): boolean => {
-        return str.includes('browserstack.com')
+        return str.includes('browserstack.com') || str.includes('bsstag.com')
     }
 
     if ((config.hostname) && !isBrowserstack(config.hostname)) {