Preferred and Common Stock - Narrative (Details)						3 Months Ended												12 Months Ended
	Mar. 07, 2023 $ / shares	Jun. 17, 2021 shares	Jan. 26, 2021 USD ($)	Nov. 17, 2020 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Sep. 25, 2020 vote $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2022 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Sep. 30, 2022 $ / shares	Jun. 30, 2022 $ / shares	Mar. 31, 2022 $ / shares	Dec. 31, 2021 $ / shares shares	Sep. 30, 2021 $ / shares	Jun. 30, 2021 $ / shares	Mar. 31, 2021 $ / shares	Dec. 31, 2020 USD ($) $ / shares	Sep. 30, 2020 $ / shares	Jun. 30, 2020 $ / shares	Mar. 31, 2020 $ / shares	Dec. 31, 2022 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2021 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2020 USD ($) $ / shares shares	May 11, 2022 USD ($)	Apr. 20, 2018 shares
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Payments of Class B Common Stock follow-on offering expenses | $																		$ 0	$ 0	$ 1,373,000
Proceeds from issuance of common stock | $																		$ 0	$ 0	58,349,000
Preferred stock shares authorized (in shares)					100,000,000	100,000,000				100,000,000								100,000,000	100,000,000
Threshold of affirmative votes of class A common Stock outstanding for automatic conversion to class B common Stock (at least)					90.00%
Threshold of Bentley family ownership of issued and outstanding class B common Stock, fully-diluted basis, automatic conversion of class A common stock					20.00%
Repurchase of Class B Common Stock under approved program | $																		$ 28,250,000		$ 6,970,000
Dividends per share (USD per share) | $ / shares						$ 0.03	$ 0.03	$ 0.03	$ 0.03	$ 0.03	$ 0.03	$ 0.03	$ 0.03	$ 0.03	$ 1.53	$ 0.03	$ 0.03	$ 0.12	$ 0.12	$ 1.62
Shares exercised (in shares)																		900,000
Subsequent Event
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Dividends per share (USD per share) | $ / shares	$ 0.05
Common Stock
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Repurchase of Class B Common Stock under approved program (in shares)																		896,126		549,834
Repurchase of Class B Common Stock under approved program | $																		$ 9,000		$ 5,000
Shares exercised (in shares)																		2,613,659	4,587,053	4,060,839
Deferred Compensation, Share-based Payments | Deferred Profit Sharing
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Repurchase of Class B Common Stock under approved program (in shares)																		0	0	549,834
Repurchase of Class B Common Stock under approved program | $																				$ 6,970,000
Performance Based Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), 2016 | Equity Incentive Plan
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Shares repurchased by Company after exercise | $																				$ 1,454,000
Shares repurchased by Company after exercise (in shares)																				128,007
2026 Notes: | Convertible Debt
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Payments of Class B Common Stock follow-on offering expenses | $			$ 25,530,000
Extinguishment of debt | $						$ 2,170,000
Repayments of senior debt | $						$ 1,998,000
Public Stock Offering - Shares From Existing Shareholders
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Payments of Class B Common Stock follow-on offering expenses | $																				$ 26,130,000
Follow-On Offering
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Proceeds from issuance of common stock | $																		$ 0	$ 0	295,802,000
Expenses associated with sale of stock | $																				$ 12,898,000
Class B Common Stock
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common stock shares authorized (in shares)						1,800,000,000				1,800,000,000								1,800,000,000	1,800,000,000			600,000,000
Number of votes per share | vote					1
Stock repurchase program, authorized amount | $																					$ 200,000,000
Repurchase of Class B Common Stock under approved program (in shares)																		896,126		3,769,346
Repurchase of Class B Common Stock under approved program | $																		$ 28,250,000
Common stock, reserved for future issuance amount | $						$ 169,752,000												169,752,000
Amount authorized for purchase | $						$ 250,000,000								$ 250,000,000				250,000,000		$ 250,000,000
Class B Common Stock | Deferred Compensation Arrangement with Individual, by Type of Compensation, Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Share-based compensation tax withholding payment | $																		$ 24,246,000	$ 69,007,000	$ 4,625,000
Deferred compensation arrangement with individual, shares issued (in shares)																		3,541,375	2,378,645	3,081,607
Deferred compensation arrangement with individual, shares issued, gross (in shares)																		4,041,707	3,820,099	3,352,931
Shares withheld for tax withholding obligation (in shares)																		500,332	1,441,454	271,324
Class B Common Stock | Bonus Plan Incentive
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Shares exercised, net of shares withheld (in shares)																		445,050	238,755
Shares withheld for cost of options and tax withholding obligation (in shares)																		124,116	168,718
Share-based compensation tax withholding payment | $																		$ 5,197,000	$ 8,739,000
Shares exercised (in shares)																		569,166	407,473
Class B Common Stock | Stock Option
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Shares exercised, net of shares withheld (in shares)																		2,613,659		4,060,839
Shares withheld for cost of options and tax withholding obligation (in shares)																		397,501		1,425,352
Share-based compensation tax withholding payment | $																		$ 9,188,000	$ 37,785,000	$ 4,755,000
Cash used to settle award | $																		$ 8,338,000		$ 9,128,000
Class B Common Stock | Stock Option | Acquisition Options
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Shares exercised, net of shares withheld (in shares)																		185,178
Shares withheld for cost of options and tax withholding obligation (in shares)																		714,822
Class B Common Stock | Stock Option | Common Stock
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Shares exercised, net of shares withheld (in shares)																			4,587,053
Shares withheld for cost of options and tax withholding obligation (in shares)																			1,066,498
Cash used to settle award | $																			$ 5,605,000
Class B Common Stock | Seequent
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares)		3,141,342
Class B Common Stock | Public Stock Offering - Shares From Existing Shareholders
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares)					12,360,991
Price per share sold (USD per share) | $ / shares					$ 22.00
Class B Common Stock | Follow-On Offering
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares)				11,500,000
Price per share sold (USD per share) | $ / shares				$ 32.00
Class B Common Stock | Follow-On Offering, Sold By Company
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares)				9,603,965
Class B Common Stock | Follow-On Offering, Exercise By Underwriters
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares)				1,500,000
Class B Common Stock | Follow-On Offering, Shares From Existing Shareholders
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares)				1,896,035
Proceeds from issuance of common stock | $				$ 294,429,000
Expenses associated with sale of stock | $				$ 12,898,000
Class B Common Stock | Private Placement
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares)																				4,574,399
Sale of stock, consideration received | $																				$ 58,349,000
Class B Common Stock | Private Placement, Direct Investor Investment
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares)																				805,053
Sale of stock, consideration received | $																				$ 12,462,000
Class A Common Stock
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common stock shares authorized (in shares)						100,000,000				100,000,000								100,000,000	100,000,000			320,000,000
Number of votes per share | vote					29
Number of votes per share, if not serving as company director or executive officer | vote					11