We provide results for the spectrum of scalar and pseudoscalar glueballs in pure Yang–Mills theory using a parameter-free fully self-contained truncation of Dyson–Schwinger and Bethe–Salpeter equations. The only input, the scale, is fixed by comparison with lattice calculations. We obtain ground state masses of $$1.9\,\text {GeV}$$
1.9
GeV
and $$2.6\,\text {GeV}$$
2.6
GeV
for the scalar and pseudoscalar glueballs, respectively, and $$2.6\,\text {GeV}$$
2.6
GeV
and $$3.9\,\text {GeV}$$
3.9
GeV
for the corresponding first excited states. This is in very good quantitative agreement with available lattice results. Furthermore, we predict masses for the second excited states at $$3.7\,\text {GeV}$$
3.7
GeV
and $$4.3\,\text {GeV}$$
4.3
GeV
. The quality of the results hinges crucially on the self-consistency of the employed input. The masses are independent of a specific choice for the infrared behavior of the ghost propagator providing further evidence that this only reflects a nonperturbative gauge completion.