Net Income Per Unit (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended												12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Sep. 30, 2016	Jun. 30, 2016	Mar. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	[1]	Sep. 30, 2015	[1]	Jun. 30, 2015	[1]	Mar. 31, 2015	[1]	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Earnings Per Share [Abstract]
Percentage of General Partnership interest in company													1.00%
Percentage of Limited Partners interest in Company													99.00%
Net income per unit, basic and diluted [Abstract]
Net income attributable to AB Unitholders	$ 224,538	$ 158,035	$ 124,501	$ 166,284	$ 159,394		$ 133,308		$ 147,425		$ 139,800		$ 673,358	$ 579,927	$ 563,861
Weighted average units outstanding—basic (in units)													269,084,000	271,745,000	269,118,000
Dilutive effect of compensatory options to buy AB Holding Units (in units)													554,000	1,037,000	1,148,000
Weighted average units outstanding - diluted (in units)													269,638,000	272,782,000	270,266,000
Basic net income per AB Unit (in dollars per unit)	$ 0.83	$ 0.58	$ 0.46	$ 0.61	$ 0.59	[2]	$ 0.49	[2]	$ 0.53	[2]	$ 0.51	[2]	$ 2.48	$ 2.11	$ 2.07
Diluted net income per AB Unit (in dollars per unit)	$ 0.83	$ 0.58	$ 0.46	$ 0.60	$ 0.58	[2]	$ 0.48	[2]	$ 0.53	[2]	$ 0.51	[2]	$ 2.47	$ 2.10	$ 2.07
Options excluded from diluted net income per unit computation due to their anti-dilutive effect (in units)													2,873,106	2,409,499	2,806,033

[1] Certain prior-period amounts have been revised, see Note 2 for a discussion of the revision.

[2] Basic and diluted net income per unit are computed independently for each of the periods presented. Accordingly, the sum of the quarterly net income per unit amounts may not agree to the total for the year.