Fair Value Measurements - Marketable Securities (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Jun. 30, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	$ 1,288,557	$ 963,867
Gross Unrealized Gains	2	2
Gross Unrealized Losses	(7,932)	(5,602)
Aggregate Fair Value	1,280,627	958,267
Short-Term Marketable Securities	879,373	398,554
Long-Term Marketable Securities	401,254	559,713
Unrealized losses included in accumulated other comprehensive loss	352,100
Certificates of deposit
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	75,000
Gross Unrealized Gains	0
Gross Unrealized Losses	(8)
Aggregate Fair Value	74,992
Short-Term Marketable Securities	74,992
Long-Term Marketable Securities	0
Commercial paper
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	284,414	6,951
Gross Unrealized Gains	0	0
Gross Unrealized Losses	(125)	(9)
Aggregate Fair Value	284,289	6,942
Short-Term Marketable Securities	284,289	6,942
Long-Term Marketable Securities	0	0
Corporate bonds
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	870,509	736,902
Gross Unrealized Gains	2	2
Gross Unrealized Losses	(7,164)	(3,829)
Aggregate Fair Value	863,347	733,075
Short-Term Marketable Securities	501,251	289,378
Long-Term Marketable Securities	362,096	443,697
Available-for-sale marketable securities, continuous unrealized loss position for more than 12 months	3,000
U.S. government agency obligations
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	58,634	220,014
Gross Unrealized Gains	0	0
Gross Unrealized Losses	(635)	(1,764)
Aggregate Fair Value	57,999	218,250
Short-Term Marketable Securities	18,841	102,234
Long-Term Marketable Securities	$ 39,158	$ 116,016

Available-for-sale Securities, Current, Excluding Restricted Trading Securities

No definition available.

Name:	akam_AvailableforsaleSecuritiesCurrentExcludingRestrictedTradingSecurities
Namespace Prefix:	akam_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of investment in debt and equity securities categorized neither as held-to-maturity nor trading.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecurities
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount before tax of unrealized gain in accumulated other comprehensive income (AOCI) on investments in debt and equity securities classified as available-for-sale.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82897076&loc=d3e27161-111563

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesAccumulatedGrossUnrealizedGainBeforeTax
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount before tax of unrealized loss in accumulated other comprehensive income (AOCI) on investments in debt and equity securities classified as available-for-sale.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesAccumulatedGrossUnrealizedLossBeforeTax
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

This item represents the cost of debt and equity securities, which are categorized neither as held-to-maturity nor trading, net of adjustments including accretion, amortization, collection of cash, previous other-than-temporary impairments recognized in earnings (less any cumulative-effect adjustments recognized, as defined), and fair value hedge accounting adjustments, if any.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesAmortizedCost
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of accumulated unrealized loss on investments in debt and equity securities classified as available-for-sale that have been in a continuous loss position for twelve months or longer.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesContinuousUnrealizedLossPosition12MonthsOrLongerAccumulatedLoss
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of accumulated unrealized loss on investments in debt and equity securities classified as available-for-sale in a continuous loss position.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 7
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82897076&loc=d3e27337-111563

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesContinuousUnrealizedLossPositionAccumulatedLoss
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Investments in debt and equity securities which are categorized neither as held-to-maturity nor trading and which are intended to be sold or mature more than one year from the balance sheet date or operating cycle, if longer. Such securities are reported at fair value; unrealized gains (losses) related to Available-for-sale Securities are excluded from earnings and reported in a separate component of shareholders' equity (other comprehensive income), unless the Available-for-sale security is designated as a hedge or is determined to have had an other than temporary decline in fair value below its amortized cost basis. All or a portion of the unrealized holding gain (loss) of an Available-for-sale security that is designated as being hedged in a fair value hedge is recognized in earnings during the period of the hedge, as are other than temporary declines in fair value below the cost basis for investments in equity securities and debt securities that an entity intends to sell or it is more likely than not that it will be required to sell before the recovery of its amortized cost basis. Other than temporary declines in fair value below the cost basis for debt securities categorized as Available-for-sale that an entity does not intend to sell and for which it is not more likely than not that the entity will be required to sell before the recovery of its amortized cost basis are bifurcated into credit losses and losses related to all other factors. Other than temporary declines in fair value below cost basis related to credit losses are recognized in earnings, and losses related to all other factors are recognized in other comprehensive income.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesNoncurrent
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ScheduleOfAvailableForSaleSecuritiesLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_CertificatesOfDepositMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_CommercialPaperMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_DomesticCorporateDebtSecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_USGovernmentAgenciesDebtSecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: