Without Olympic champions Mo Farah, Greg Rutherford and Jessica Ennis-Hill, Britain won a silver and two bronze.
Long jumper Dan Bramble finished sixth on Sunday, as did Stephanie Twell and Lee Emanuel in their 3,000m events.
"There were more medal hopes so three might be seen as disappointing," said BBC Sport pundit Steve Cram.
Eighteen-year-old Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha (7min 57.21secs) showed he will be a threat to Farah at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, racing clear to win the 3,000m from surprise silver medallist Ryan Hill of the United States, with Emmanuel (8:00.70) never nearer than at the end.
In her event, Twell kept pace well and was still in medal contention with four laps remaining.
Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba (8:47.43) was too good though and she eventually finished almost seven seconds clear of the field to win gold.
Isobel Pooley finished 10th in the high jump, clearing 1.89m, whilst Chris O'Hare finished eighth in the 1500m.
Britain finished 16th in the overall medal table, compared to fourth two years ago.
Only one medal came on the track, through Tiffany Porter in the 60m.
Lorraine Ugen finished third in the long jump, with Robbie Grabarz winning Britain's only silver in the high jump.
Bramble, 25, produced an indoor personal best of 7.14m in the long jump and Ennis-Hill's coach Tony Minichello joked: "We look like we are a jumping nation. A nation of kangaroos."
The host nation won exactly half of the 26 gold medals on offer - Ethiopia were the only other country that won more than one.
The US won four golds on the final night of competition, including both 4x400m relays in world best times for 2016.
The hosts were helped in the men's race when a highly-fancied Belgium quartet dropped the baton and eventually finished last.
Great Britain failed to win a gold medal at the World Indoor Championships for only the second time since 1997 at the four-day event in Portland.