Facebook has announced it is launching a free version of its Workplace tool.

Workplace was designed as an alternative to business collaboration tools such as Slack and launched in October last year.

However, Facebook now plans to offer a pared back version with similar functionality. This will be entitled Workplace Standard, with the original retitled Workplace Premium.

Facebook hopes this will be a good solution for those firms that do not require the full service or have limited funds available.

Simon Cross, product manager at the social network, commented: "Not every company wants to go through a full-scale enterprise deployment and not every company is in a position to pay for Workplace."

While Mr Cross would not be drawn on when Workplace Standard would be rolled out, he said Facebook hopes "it helps grow the number of companies that we're able to connect".

Workplace does not require a person to log in with their personal account details, and allows users to message others, share files, create pages and set up groups.