Stockholders' Equity and Employee Benefit Plans - Unamortized Stock-based Compensation (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2018	Aug. 21, 2015
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Unrecognized stock-based compensation (in thousands)	$ 84,989	$ 19,800
Weighted average vesting period (in years)	1 year 6 months
Stock Options
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Unrecognized stock-based compensation (in thousands)	$ 45,217
Weighted average vesting period (in years)	2 years 3 months 18 days
Restricted Stock Units (Service-Based)
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Unrecognized stock-based compensation (in thousands)	$ 7,548
Weighted average vesting period (in years)	2 years 8 months 12 days
Restricted Stock Units (Performance-Based)
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Unrecognized stock-based compensation (in thousands)	$ 27,637
Weighted average vesting period (in years)	1 year 6 months
ESPP
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Unrecognized stock-based compensation (in thousands)	$ 4,587
Weighted average vesting period (in years)	1 year 10 months 24 days

Unrecognized cost of unvested share-based compensation awards.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (i)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109197908&loc=d3e5070-113901

+ Details

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

- Definition

Weighted average period over which unrecognized compensation is expected to be recognized for equity-based compensation plans, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EmployeeServiceShareBasedCompensationNonvestedAwardsTotalCompensationCostNotYetRecognizedPeriodForRecognition1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

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

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_AwardTypeAxis=us-gaap_EmployeeStockOptionMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_AwardTypeAxis=svmk_ServiceBasedRestrictedStockUnitsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_AwardTypeAxis=svmk_PerformanceBasedRestrictedStockUnitsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_AwardTypeAxis=svmk_EmployeeStockPurchasePlanMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: