diff --git a/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/node-express-esm-without-loader/tests/server.test.ts b/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/node-express-esm-without-loader/tests/server.test.ts
index c2c076f13e4e..eeeb033a42df 100644
--- a/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/node-express-esm-without-loader/tests/server.test.ts
+++ b/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/node-express-esm-without-loader/tests/server.test.ts
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ test('Isolates requests', async ({ request }) => {
   expect(errorEvent1.tags).toEqual({ 'param-1': 'yes' });
   expect(errorEvent2.tags).toEqual({ 'param-2': 'yes' });
 
-  // Transaction is not set, since we have no expressIntegration by default
-  expect(errorEvent1.transaction).toBeUndefined();
-  expect(errorEvent2.transaction).toBeUndefined();
+  expect(errorEvent1.transaction).toBe('GET /test-params/1');
+  expect(errorEvent2.transaction).toBe('GET /test-params/2');
 });
diff --git a/dev-packages/node-integration-tests/suites/express/without-tracing/server.ts b/dev-packages/node-integration-tests/suites/express/without-tracing/server.ts
index 6b8af4270430..2a85d39b83b8 100644
--- a/dev-packages/node-integration-tests/suites/express/without-tracing/server.ts
+++ b/dev-packages/node-integration-tests/suites/express/without-tracing/server.ts
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ app.get('/test/isolationScope/:id', (req, res) => {
   const id = req.params.id;
   Sentry.setTag('isolation-scope', 'tag');
   Sentry.setTag(`isolation-scope-${id}`, id);
-  Sentry.setTag('isolation-scope-transactionName', `${Sentry.getIsolationScope().getScopeData().transactionName}`);
 
   Sentry.captureException(new Error('This is an exception'));
 
diff --git a/dev-packages/node-integration-tests/suites/express/without-tracing/test.ts b/dev-packages/node-integration-tests/suites/express/without-tracing/test.ts
index 85c037dc0df9..73d6a322ed28 100644
--- a/dev-packages/node-integration-tests/suites/express/without-tracing/test.ts
+++ b/dev-packages/node-integration-tests/suites/express/without-tracing/test.ts
@@ -9,12 +9,11 @@ test('correctly applies isolation scope even without tracing', done => {
     .ignore('session', 'sessions')
     .expect({
       event: {
+        transaction: 'GET /test/isolationScope/1',
         tags: {
           global: 'tag',
           'isolation-scope': 'tag',
           'isolation-scope-1': '1',
-          // We can't properly test non-existance of fields here, so we cast this to a string to test it here
-          'isolation-scope-transactionName': 'undefined',
         },
         // Request is correctly set
         request: {
@@ -27,12 +26,11 @@ test('correctly applies isolation scope even without tracing', done => {
     })
     .expect({
       event: {
+        transaction: 'GET /test/isolationScope/2',
         tags: {
           global: 'tag',
           'isolation-scope': 'tag',
           'isolation-scope-2': '2',
-          // We can't properly test non-existance of fields here, so we cast this to a string to test it here
-          'isolation-scope-transactionName': 'undefined',
         },
         // Request is correctly set
         request: {
diff --git a/packages/node/src/integrations/http.ts b/packages/node/src/integrations/http.ts
index ce6916da4dcd..8022227c6c4e 100644
--- a/packages/node/src/integrations/http.ts
+++ b/packages/node/src/integrations/http.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ import {
   getIsolationScope,
   isSentryRequestUrl,
   setCapturedScopesOnSpan,
-  spanToJSON,
 } from '@sentry/core';
 import { getClient, getRequestSpanData, getSpanKind } from '@sentry/opentelemetry';
 import type { IntegrationFn } from '@sentry/types';
@@ -121,13 +120,9 @@ const _httpIntegration = ((options: HttpOptions = {}) => {
             // attempt to update the scope's `transactionName` based on the request URL
             // Ideally, framework instrumentations coming after the HttpInstrumentation
             // update the transactionName once we get a parameterized route.
-            const attributes = spanToJSON(span).data;
-            if (!attributes) {
-              return;
-            }
+            const httpMethod = (req.method || 'GET').toUpperCase();
+            const httpTarget = stripUrlQueryAndFragment(req.url || '/');
 
-            const httpMethod = String(attributes['http.method']).toUpperCase() || 'GET';
-            const httpTarget = stripUrlQueryAndFragment(String(attributes['http.target'])) || '/';
             const bestEffortTransactionName = `${httpMethod} ${httpTarget}`;
 
             isolationScope.setTransactionName(bestEffortTransactionName);