Hello. I’ve been using Blender for little over two years and there’s still a lot I don’t know. Are there any external render engines compatible with Blender 2.78 that more experienced users would recommend?
Recommend for what? Each render engine has its strong areas and weaknesses, what do you want to achieve with that external render engine?
Is there an engine that renders faster than Cycles?
Renders what faster? Blender Internal renders faster than Cycles. For less guesswork you should be more specific about what do you need to do, what you can’t do with what you have and so on. Otherwise it is like asking for suggestions about good food and in the end it comes out that food is for a cow with a hay fever.